Midnight Cab
Rahr & Sons Brewing Company

 

 

Black as night and a voluptuous head. Light in aroma but has a hint of sweet and sour. It comes through in the taste and has some dark fruit flavor and like coffee aftertaste. Odd but entertaining. It’s smooth and goes down easy. Overall it’s a complex beer and definitely worth a try. On draft at Ron’s Corner Tavern.

Poured from a can to a sniffer. Pours a purple hued black color with a thin head that leaves minimal lacing. Nose of oak, grapes, chocolate, and underlying alcohol. Taste is a flash second of roasted malt and oak before the wine barrel and plum give it a sweet finish. Medium-light body and light carbonation with a slightly sticky residue feeling.
The barrel gives this a glossier and unexpected finish on the style. It's outside of the box and ambitious, and mostly hits the marks. The alcohol seeps through more as it warms, so it's better when it's more chilled. Definitely something for the colder months that satisfies despite not fulfilling it's entire potential.

 

12 oz can dated 7/4/18. These guys work even on Independence Day. Says 9.5% not 7.5%. Poured into Stella Artois glass.

Chestnut brown pouring into a dark chocolate brown-black body with a 1/2 finger of beige head.

Aroma is just exquisite. Totally unique. Black cherry, anise, tobacco, dark belgian candi sugar, candied currant, dehydrated plums and cherries.

Flavor is tobacco, dark cherry, fig, then a wave of black licorice, anise candy, horehound, and a finish of chewing tobacco and oak barrel.

Feel is a bit thin, almost zero alcohol heat to compliment it, with a slight slickness. Some dryness on the finish but only mildly.

Overall, it's a good beer, but at 9.5% I would want something with more lasting/thicker flavor to get tanked on. The thin feel carries off the flavors quicker than they should. I can feel the alcohol but I feel like I shouldn't be. It's dangerously drinkable and will steal your sobriety like a ninja in the night.

From the 12 oz can in a snifter via a friend from work---Cheers Randy!
This mighty fine brew pours a deep brownish black with a very nice
head of medium dark khaki foam that settles to a thick ring, thin light pool,
and displays some nice light sudsy lacing. Nose of heavy Cabernet wine
with touches of oak and subtle chocolate notes with a touch of cherries.
Flavors nail it! Lightly tart cherries dance about Cabernet wine cask with
light oak and a delicious medium dark bakers cocoa note that is pleasant
and fulfilling. Very nice mouth feel; medium body, lightly coating, moderately
tart, medium light carbonation that is effervescent making this one highly
quaff-able, and a moderately dry wine tinged finish.

A mighty fine brew from a new to me brewery. Very substantial and
decidedly delicious. Newest WOW beer I have had in quite awhile
for being outside of the standard box in the hybrid realm.

Cheers

 

 

 

Pours a black which is an usual for a Saison.

Aroma is tart red wine barrel dominanting, vinous notes, on top of usual wheat, wet horse blanket notes.

Taste is like the nose tart red wine barrel vinous notes. On top of good Saison notes, notes of cherries.

Mouthfeel is lighter but finishes medium.

Overall nice twist on a classic style.

 

Neither tastes much or looks like a traditional saison. Dark brown in color with tart, juicy, dark berry flavors. Highly drinkable for a barrel aged beer.

 

Going to rate this here, just got this in a can and it rings in at 9.5%ABV, so not sure if it changes this year or....
Poured from can into tulip, good 2 finger light tan head, recedes after a few minutes, no lacing. Jet black in the glass, no light gets thru. Smells faintly of Saison esters, some vinous notes come thru along with some bakers chocolate. Wow, first sip pulls you in, first thought was cab, big red grape flavor coming thru, saison yeast is non existent, but the tannic wine and chocolate from the malt are really working well. Actually somewhat impressed here, find it hard to believe they got that much wine character out of a barrel with no juice added. Went to the website and no mention of juice, also guess this is yearly, thus the difference in abv from year to year. Well it is floating my boat. Picked up a single at TW, going to grab a 4 pack when I get by there again. Finish leaves a residual grape flavor, doesn't last long, but it is there. Mouthfeel is good, ABV super well hidden. Again as mentioned, very little saison character other than on the nose, but all said and done, it probably wouldn't mesh well with the way this turned out.

 

a black saison in red wine barrels, a nice clever recipe thats pretty well put together, but tastes just a little past its prime to me. deep chocolate brown and with some nice body from the tap, with a nose of oak tannins and roasted barley. lots of bitter dark grain to this, almost the unmalted roast you would find in stout, its super bitter there, but it is softened nicely by chocolate malt too that lends a nice round cocoa flavor to it. the saison yeast is sort of the missing element for me, its not funky or hardly even belgian, and it doesnt seem to have fermented this quite as completely as would have been ideal. a little bit of esters here, but the yeast is way back, and i think that is to its detriment. the barrel treatment is awesome, cabernet and oak abound here, and are just fantastic with the malt profile. prune and cherry notes, a little acidity, and just a trace of wooded alcohol, very smooth and it really makes this unique. i really wish there was just a little more yeast character at work and that this was a shade or two drier, it would really be special if that were the case. chocolate and wine to finish, but more earthy than desserty. among the best beers i have had from these guys, and easily their most ambitious i have seen. i like the style too. this is very solid and just a few edits away from being elite level.