Farmers Market Rhubarb Saison
Wellington Brewery

Let me first qualify by saying, my instance of this beer is just labelled Rhubarb Saison and shows an ABV of 5.1%. That said, I have sincere doubts this is a drastically different beer.

Appearance: Poured with a finger of head that did not lace but did retain admirably well. The body is a fairly cloudy gold with notes of bright white wine. The carbonation is slow, steady and even.

Smell: Barley malt dominates the nose with a hint of lemon and what I presume is Rhubarb as it has a celery like quality behind a strong hard to describe acidic presence. Warming helps bring it out more, but it's potent enough cool.

Taste: As expected and desired, sour rhubarb dominates this brew. It's a great, restrained sour with a bit of a dry touch to it that balances well. It leaves the barley malt at the start and the somewhat sandy hops at the end in the background, but you can feel that they work well behind the scenes here.

Mouthfeel: Like I said before, this beer is very well balanced, as apart from the Rhubarb hogging the spotlight a bit nothing in this beer strikes me as fighting other parts of it. It tastes orderly but not restrained, like each flavor knows how to compliment the other subtly. The malt knows it's place, as do the hops, as does the Rhubarb. The carbonation could be a bit higher is probably my biggest complaint here. Like how only mild sour Rhubarb and mild dry earth keeps a clean and crisp aftertaste.

Drinkability: This went down exceptionally fast, as it's light bodied, refreshing, flavorful, crisp and mild enough on the carbonation end to settle down nicely. The dryness of it is a slight hampering, but it's minor. A bit more body might also been welcome as well, but these are very minor complaints.

Final Thoughts: This is a rare fruit/vegetable beer where I can't really ask my tried and true "Why didn't you just make a cider of it" argument. As far as I am aware, Rhubarb simply isn't meant to stand on it's own. In this case, while it steals the spotlight, the supporting cast working behind the scenes really tie this beer together. I sincerely recommend this one, especially in the summer heat, and can see it working in the fall as well. Two thumbs up here.

341 ml bottle served cold into a pint glass. Purchased as part of Wellington rebooted mixed pack.

Appearance - hazy, pale golden color. A finger of head with very modest retention. Not much lacing. Boatloads of sediment accumulate towards the bottom of the glass and within.

Smell - some tartness with rhubarb and possibly strawberry. Some wheat notes and floral aspects in there.

Taste - fruity, a little tart, some funky wheat aspects and a sweet floral strawberry-sequence flavor. Pretty tasty.

Mouthfeel - very highly carbonated, medium light bodied but a little gassy on the whole.

Overall - not a bad beer, but the rhubarb is a little to dialled back and the fizziness is a little much. Worthy of being in a mixed pack, but wouldn't buy separately.

 

 

 

 

dark yellowish like pee. cabbage notes in the taste. tart all right. on tap. at summerhill.quaffable once. unique, but not for everyone. Drink your rhubarb!

 

 

This is a very interesting beer. Similar in appearance, taste and feel to a blended Belgian Lambic like Geuze. I assume it is achieved with the sour contribution of the rhubarb replacing the bacterial culture in the Lambic.

Refreshing on a summer deck.