Ommegang Saison Rose

 

         Here’s a challenge for you the next time you go to your local beer store. Try to find a barrel aged beer that’s not a porter or stout. Also, try to find one that isn’t aged using bourbon or other whiskey barrels. While this won’t be the most gruelling challenge, it will lead you towards some interesting barrel aged beer. Barrel aged beer is something I’ve become a big fan of in recent years. Barrel aging can add great flavor and character to almost any beer.

For one thing, you get flavor from the wood itself whether it’s flavor from the wood, tannins, or the vanilla notes from charred oak barrels. Then you get flavor from whatever originally resided in that barrel. Bourbon and whiskey barrels are used most often, adding bold flavors like porters and stouts. Red and white wine barrels are also used, adding vinous flavors to lighter beer styles like saisons, lambics, and other Belgian styles.

Ommegang does something interesting when they make their Saison Rose. They split the beer into two batches, one of which gets aged in white wine barrels. The other half is fermented with chardonnay grapes and hibiscus flowers. The whole thing is blended together to make a beer that is not only barrel aged, but is a blended ale as well. Ommegang Saison Rose pours into my glass slightly hazy medium amber in color with rose highlights. The head is dense, two fingers deep and lasting.

          Taking my first sniff, the aroma on this saison is delicate, floral, and pleasantly perfumed. The aroma starts off floral, with an underlying mustiness that reminds me of a dusty old attic. All wood, dust, and cobwebs, but in a very enticing fashion. This is where I pick up hints of ripe pear and yeast. All of this is held together by a peppery, Belgian funkiness you might look for in a delicate style of beer like this.

          Ommegang Saison Rose starts off bone dry, reminding me again of that old attic where the beer might have been kept and aged for so many years. Mouthfeel builds towards the center giving me flavors of ripe fruit mingling seamlessly with the beer’s inherent dryness. Flavors in the middle give me peach, ripe berry, and a subtle yeastiness holding the whole thing together. Ommegang’s mouthfeel is smooth, slightly rounded in the middle, with a lingering dry finish that only make one thirst for more.

          Overall, I feel like Ommegang Saison Rose deserves an 8.5 out of 10. It’s delicate, full of fruit and an overall Belgian funkiness making this beer delicious and desirable. It’s smoother than its dryness and spritzy carbonation would lead you to think it should be and the whole thing shows very good balance.