Hoop And Stave No. 6 (Red Wine Barrel Aged Saison)
Payette Brewing

Bottle from WinCo. Come on Boise crew! Saison, not Belgian ale.Hazy pale golden body, small airy head subsides to small skin and tight ring. Fruity, grainy aroma, some floral. Taste brings in more of the wine barrel notes, dding to the fruity essence. Still a nice tight grain base here, nice consistency. More sweet than savory. But definitely saison. IR, I’m disappointed! And Jeremy, I don’t think you’re even paying attention!

a neat series of beers here it looks like, this is my first one of them, i had no idea these guys were doing anything this ambitious, as i had only had or seen their regular releases before this. this is a saison type aged over a year in red wine barrels. a ton of the wood and wine come through in both the aroma and the flavor, and its quite complex for being what seems like a relatively basic saison at its base. there is some tannic elements from the wine and the oak, but this isnt really tart or sour, not even really funky, it might be relatively boring without the barrels, but it is well made. a clean belgiany yeast strain giving some known fruity esters to this, while the simple grain base is fresh and earthy, but largely out of the way. carbonation is high which i almost demand in this style, and there is a lot of space left for the fruitiness of the red wine, black cherry, red currant, and blackberry come to mind, and it lingers nicely later on. the oak gives it some body but this still drinks pretty light overall, even oddly crisp in mouthfeel for a barrel aged beer. the wine and wood make it rustic where the yeast and grain do not. this is tasty stuff, a nice use of the barrel and the right base beer to showcase that aspect. good enough to have me wanting to try the others in this series!