Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A Modern Saison With Classic Features

I'd seen Upright Brewing's beers at the Olive Market for sometime, but had yet to pick one up.  Lately, I've been in a deep IPA rut and needed a hop break.  I was overdue in trying one of Upright's Belgian-inspired beers, and a saison seemed the antidote to my bitter beer run.  On Saturday night I bought a 750 ml bottle of Seven, which Upright calls a "modern saison," and knew immediately upon tasting it that I'd waited too long to try a beer from this brewer.

Seven was fantastic.  In Seven, Upright nailed all the points I like in a saison - spicy, yeasty and rustic.  The spice and yeast jumped out at me, but were not overwhelmingly.  They were mixed with a touch of fruity sweetness, followed by a dryness that marks a quality saison.  The yeast and dryness stayed through the finish and left a smooth, long-lasting aftertaste.  I can handle thin beers in certain styles, like brown ales and other malt-oriented beers, but I like my saisons chewy.   Seven was around 8% abv, which gave it texture and heft, and which enhanced the beer's robust flavor.  I could have made a meal of it.  Seven is not going to win any beauty contests, and poured an ugly, cloudy, burnt orange, but who cares, its flavor doesn't come from its color.

I don't know too much about Upright (do I remember a BeerAdvocate magazine article about Upright?), but am going to try some of its other beers.  Almost all the Upright beers on this page sound pretty darn good.

2 comments:

Jeffrey Crane said...

At least the bottle that I've tried fits the definition of a Biere de Garde much more than a Saison. I also experienced that chewy slightly sweet maltiness which I thought tasted great, but did not scream Saison to me.

You should check out Upright's blog. They are making some highly creative beers, unfortunately those are brewery only releases.

Beer Rover said...

I'll check Upright's blog. The bottle samples looked interesting. Upright kind of reminds me of The Bruery, where it's producing some incredible brewery-only, draft-only beers distributed locally. Unfortunately, I don't get too many of The Bruery's releases either.