The Red Queen
Elysian Brewing Company

 

 

On tap @ the Green Flash Brewing Company (Vista, CA) on 3/21/10. Served in a pint glass.

Pours a hazy orange copper, with a ½ finger of bright-white frothy head. Nice richness to the retention, which leaves a nice heavy cascade of foamy lacing behind that quickly slides down the sides of the glass. The aroma has a lot of fruit going on with it, especially apple juice and some orange peel. Sweet crispness and a bit of peppery spice give this some sharpness and I believe that I'm even picking up the scent of the rose petals, as they appear to blend in with the all around gentle floral feel of this.

The taste is coming off as very pleasant to me, with a sweet marriage of fruit flavor and toasted wheat. Lots of apple character comes out to play as this warms, with some light citrus rind notes giving this just a touch of bitterness. Warming spice heats up the back of the profile, mingling with some yeasty dryness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a sharp crispness to it that plays nicely off the sweeter aspects of this. Overall though, this remains pretty smooth in the mouth, despite there being just a touch of beef to the feel.

This was really nice, with that crisp apple flavor in particular keeping this refreshing and flavorful. This is one of the better collaboration beers that I've had recently.

On-tap at Green Flash

A: The pour is a hazy golden color with a thin but sticky white head.

S: The nose is highly spicy and floral. The peppercorns really stand out, and although you might not necessarily pick out roses, they add a definite floral aroma. There is some sweetness in the background as well, but it is not quite as intense as the other aromas.

T: Initially the flavor is sweet and malty, but as the beer warms up a tad, the peppercorns come out along with a lightly floral flavor. The apples also begin to really shine as they provide some excellent sweet, fruity flavor.

M: The body is fairly full for a saison with a moderate carbonation and a bit of dryness.

D: This is another one of those "interesting" beers, but I actually found it to be quite good.

Had this limited release collaboration between Elysian and Green Flash at a Brouwer's brewer's night with Green Flash. Served in 12 oz. tulip.

Had a nice orangish amber color with a nice white head that left a good deal of lacing.

The smell of this beer was pretty remarkable. It was marketed over a brewery email as a "Winter Saison with rose hips, pink peppercorns and Pink Lady & Braeburn apples in conditioning." Since pink lady apples and braeburns are what we buy in our house, I am definitely familiar with their flavor and I found the smell and taste of these apples in the brew. I couldn't smell or taste the peppercorns at first. I let it warm up a little bit and then could taste the peppercorns in the back of the throat, but only slightly.

This had a crisp and dry mouthfeel that I expected from a Saison. But, this is one unique brew and I don't think I'd have more than a couple in a sitting.