Saison
Menno Olivier Brewing

Rarely do I remember a saison above 7% as even this much ABV disturbs the ales' interaction with the food. Such ABV defeats the purpose of saisons as they are table ales that make food more enjoyable, even better. Into my involved history with the saison (they are over 11% of my reviews on BA, twice that of wits my #2 style) comes this upstart from a Mediterranean country that has the supreme cheek to claim they can make a saison at 9.4 ABV.

And the truth is, Menno Olivier did ! They made a table ale that both lets the food express itself and a 9.4 ABV that, if I drank two of them, would knock me on my ass. What is most amazing is that I drank this with a Vietnamese rendition of Singapore noodles which had a lot of differing spices going on. But this Saison was up to the challenge. While its yeast is not as refined as the masters who learned from previous generations of Walloonians , the spicing was pretty good in its complexity and its ability to pluck flavors from the Singapore noodles and highlight them.

I want to give a micro-review (or more likely a nano-review) to Menno Olivier... but they don't have a webpage. Their Instagram and Facebook won't warrant my attention as they are not disciplined enough and, as our electoral system goes, any crap will do.) So until Menno Olivier gets a website, salut i força al canut ! (Good Health and Prosperity.)