Eden
Vail Brewing Co.

a really cool golden strong ale here brewed with sage and aged in french oak, one of the most ambitious beers i have seen from these guys, and its very well executed. i think the base beer is perfect for the fresh, intense, distinctive mountain sage in this, which is quite robustly dosed, but the fuller body, honey sweetness, and moderate booziness of the golden strong makes a lot of sense, the sage might overwhelm something lesser, but the blonde nature of this keeps the malt from being heavy and too influential in the flavor, it lets the oak and sage do their thing, and its killer. the oak is cool in here, fairly persistent from start to finish, lightly white winey, but pretty new tasting too, subtle vanilla to it, and the honey from the grain and the bit of sugar left in here really work well with it. the sage is dominant, especially in the aftertaste, but its natural as it gets and really defines this one. a cool fall beer, something to share around the thanksgiving table or something. neat to see these guys doing so well. it would be easy to make this a tourist trap brewery with nothing but the basics, but this is decidedly crafty. smart and well executed.