21st Anniversary Ale
Brewery Ommegang

 

750ml Bottle
Caged/Corked
Bottled Conditioned

Poured into a Westy glass a very nice slightly cloudy golden yellow/orange color, very nice carbonation, with a very nice thick/creamy one-finger plus white head, with a pretty nice medium size island, and some very nice sticky lacing behind. The nose is pretty nice, malty, yeasty, with some very nice banana/clove/coriander/pepper notes, cinnamon/ginger/lemon/apple cider, licorice. The taste is very nice, malty, yeasty, with a very nice touch of banana/clove/coriander/pepper, very nice touch of cinnamon/ginger/lemon/apple cider, licorice. Medium body, ABV is hidden pretty well, with a nice little dry/bitter finish. Overall, this is a pretty nice beer. Like the apple cider touch.

 

 

A great bottle for a brewery to celebrate its coming of age. A festive ale worthy of bringing back.
Late to this party, I found it on the remainder shelf at Sawyer Market on a brewery expedition to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

Since this 21st anniversary saison is no longer brewed, I make two suggestions for bringing it back as a more regular offering suitable as a table beer.

First, keep the apple cider flavor-blending. It is subtle and a much more balanced sweet-tart for saisons than the current fad of over-bretting.

Second, I'd add a little more wheat to the malt bill. Saisons are flexible like that; using the grains abundant in the local field. While I have no idea if malt-able wheat grows well in upstate NY, this saison could trade a bit of its spritzy feel (good for refreshment and appetizer palate-cleansing) and try to get a bit fuller mouth from the wheat. This way, your saison makes average meals better and becomes a go-to... and maybe even can make a run at Hennepin for growth !

Finally... Big OA Kudos and Hugs for your website. Despite this being my 25th beer from you, it seems like several years since I went on it. The site also has come of age, shaking off adolescence and now an ambitious adult. Your setting reminds me that I have to get serious about visits to my North American Belgian Bucket List. You probably sit in third place ... unless you were to open an outpost in Brooklyn !

 

 

Bubbly golden pour with two fingers white foam. Smell has some light barnyard funk, plenty of spices, apple, hay, yeast and a touch of brett, overall giving an impression of a bright and musky spiced saison. Taste is so bland however, with big fermented apple, some musk, and a little finishing spices. Not bright like the smell indicated, rather heavy on the palate. Flavors seem to cancel each other out over the watchful eye of the apple overlord. Carbonation could be stronger to help out

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY.

This one pours a light straw yellow color, with a decent sized fluffy head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like light spice, flowers, light wine-y aromas, cinnamon, and apple cider

I'm not entirely sure the apple cider works with the base saison here- it makes the beer a bit sweeter than it needs to be. There's a nice spiced character here, though, with cinnamon standing out the most. The cider and spicing kind of bury that this is a saison at heart, though.

This is crisp, and pretty drinkable, with a good level of carbonation.

This isn't my favorite - it just feels a little bit muddled to me.

I liked this anniversary ale. It is a spicier saison, and a bit like drinking spiced champagne with saison yeast. It is a bit of a gusher.

Look: hazy amber/golden apple juice color with a very thick white head.

Aroma: wonderful aroma, citrus, ginger, cinnamon, yeast

Flavor: There's sourdough bread, you can taste the Cinnamon and the ginger, it's tart, apple, grapes, there's a hop bite tasting like grapefruit or lemon peel at the end, and a wonderful sourdough and Spice aroma.

Feel: It is light but well carbonated.

 

L: Had this beer on-tap at Capital Ale House - Innsbrook, poured into a snifter glass. Had a golden yellow color and a mostly clear consistency. There was an inch of foamy, fairly long-lasting head. Good lacing.

S: A very nice aroma of spices, malt, citrus fruit, apples, and ginger.

T: Tasted of a tinge of malt (not overly prevalent), a bit of Belgian-style yeast, some of the advertised apple cider, light ginger notes, a lot of citrus (lemon), and some spices (cinnamon, in particular). A light and zesty flavor. It's much sweeter and spicier than your typical saison. It has a delicate subtlety, so it's not overpowering. Tasty.

F: A well-carbonated beer with a lively finish. Light-bodied.

O: A well done, easy to drink saison. Worth a look.

 

really cool to have an anniversary beer be something drinkable, i feel like these have been high abv and barrel aged beers over and over again, not from ommegang, but from everyone, literally everyone, i much appreciate this effort conceptually, let alone how bomb the beer is. its fermented on apple cider, which is awesome, although a lot of the apple character is dried out of here in the fermentation, it has a light hard cider vibe to it, the tang of the apple skins, and a multiple fermentation complexity, but its not overly apple forward. its also done with cinnamon, ginger, and lemon peel, all of which are subtle, behind even the yeast, but the cinnamon is the most forward of these in the flavor, with the ginger being for me the least obvious. its not worth dissecting though because it all integrates and comes together so well, spicy saison yeast, just a little tang from lemon and apple, and a ton of seasonal complexity that is quit uncommon with all these elements. the yeast is awesome, the added ingredients are tasteful in proportion, and the mouthfeel is on point, so bubbly and alive, frothy and rich feeling from the wheat, but not with any leftover sweetness, minerals and mild esters, unrivaled drinkability for something so interesting, i had it on tap but i bet the bottle conditioning is killer on it too, always is from ommegang. dont miss this one, different and fun.