Edge City Harvest Ale
Bristol Brewing Company

This is one of the more beguiling, confusing, and irresistible beers I've had in a long time. I had it twice while in the CO Springs area--once at the brewery in a goblet and once at Kinfolks in Manitou Springs. This is as murky in color as cider and it smells like cider too: apples dominate the bouquet, though they receive a good bit of help from the brew's distinct cheese and vinegar aromas. Appetizing? Maybe not on first thought, but again, there
is/was something irresistibly strange and enticing about this saison.

The flavor is strong on apples as well, which, interestingly, gives the beer an equal dose of sweet and sour to show on the palate. Honey and cheese (think, mild cheddar) flavors impart a nice body to the beer and, for all its strangeness, this is very drinkable.

I'm not sure where I ultimately fall on this brew. It's different--even for a saison or biere de garde--and that's good, but it is definitely rough around the edges still. I love the idea of using a hodge-podge of local Colorado ingredients to brew a farmhouse ale, and the product here is definitely worth a try. Though be warned ahead of time, this isn't your grand-pere's saison. Hopefully Bristol will keep brewing this and rotating it through their lineup; I imagine that over time (as with some of their other brews), they'll smooth out some of the kinks and develop an already-distinct brew into a classic.