International Space Saison Rum
Straight To Ale

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saison? That is definitely stretching it....total rum bomb. Not a bad beer, but it tastes more like an english barley wine or an old ale. For some reason, if it was labeled as such it might have gone over better. Not a bad beer, worth a try but it's nice to know what you will be drinking.

 

No bottling date that I could find.

A: Pours a nice clear red. Very large, frothy and foamy off-white head. Great head retention but no lacing at all.

S: Welp, certainly smells like rum. Very sweet, lots of caramel I'd say. Hints of dark fruits. Not much saison yet but still nice.

T: More of the same. Lots of caramel up front with decent dark fruits. Saison quality starts to appear in the middle with some grass. Cloves and light bread in the finish. More grass in the finish, mixing with the rum for a long lasting aftertaste.

M: Medium bodied, smooth. A little stronger (more alcohol bite) than your normal saison.

O: Nice rum barrel saison. Rum obscures a lot of normal saison qualities but it's still there. Rum is surprisingly nice, adding some nice layers of complexity to a relatively simple brew.

 

 

Pours a decent fizzy bubbly 1 finger head that fades fairly quickly, very little lacing, semi hazy slight clear iced tea tan color.

Nose is weird, a strong tea and rum aroma, big apple Jack like brandy, apple cider and fruity tea, with mild sweet syrupy malt.

Taste brings more spirits, apple brandy and rum, with fermented raisin or fig, some booze and phenols, sweet syrupy brown malts rum like, mild molasses ands caramel malt, pretty syrupy, and more green tea. Finish is sticky sweety, syrupy with hot booze and phenols, more apple brandy and fig juice.

Mouth is med bod but syrupy, lighter carb, bit of hot booze.

Overall this was pretty bad, no saison characters at all, not even a hint of it, really boozy and syrupy with that brandy and rum notes, little actual beer character even. Calling this a saison is bad, but even drinking this as a beer is bad, which I can't do.. Drain pour!

 

 

 

 

 

Dark amber in color with a hazy complexion which is likely a result of the rum barrel aging. A fingernail of off white head covers about a quarter of the top. Minimal Brussels lacing. Sharp aroma of dark rum is rather overpowering in the nose. The taste is pretty odd with aggressive dark rum with notes of banana. There's a detectable alcoholic burn in the mouth along with plenty of carbonation. Not my thing.