Farmhouse Friday: Lost Abbey Carnevale and The Bruery Saison de Lente

Tags

carnevale, saison de lente

This is the first post in what I hope will be a regular series highlighting various farmhouse ales. Farmhouse ales (also known as saisons) have quickly become one of my favorite types of beer. It’s a very loose category of beers as their can be great differences between many beers all with the same label of “farmhouse” or “saison”. I’ll write more about the style later, let’s get on to the beer.

This past Tuesday, Ritual Tavern had two farmhouse ales on draft, Lost Abbey’s Carnevale and The Bruery’s Saison de Lente and I tasted both side by side.

Carnevale is brewed by The Lost Abbey as a celebration of Carnival (Carnevale in Italian) as far as I can tell the recipe changes every year, according to RateBeer in 2009 it had Brettanomyces, I couldn’t find any info on this year’s release (other than the fact that it should start make the rounds in kegs and bottles soon) but I couldn’t taste any Brett in this batch. It’s 6.5% ABV.

Saison de Lente is the Bruery’s spring seasonal which does contain Brettanomyces. Bottles tend to stick around at some liquor stores throughout much of the year and it’s often on tap at beer bars in the spring. It comes in at 6.5% ABV, 35 IBU and 4 SRM.

Both beers were nearly identical in color, a pale gold or straw color with white foam. The Saison de Lente originally had quite a bit of head (more than the Carnevale) but it quickly disappeared. Carnevale had much less foam on it, but it stuck around for some time.

Carnevale had a very sweet and noticeable bubblegum or candy smell and the first tastes I took of it were similar. It was very well carbonated, which I think detracted some from the taste at first. There were some peppery spices and it finished very phenolic and clove tasting. The finish was dry for how sweet it started out. I liked it more as it warmed up, it got less sweet and the spices really came out. Lost Abbey recommends serving it between 45 – 52F, but I’m not sure what temperatures I was drinking it at.

Saison de Lente had a sweet smell but it was far more subdued and not nearly as reminiscent of bubblegum. The taste was slightly sweet and very floral up front. There was some earthy funkiness, probably the Brettanomyces but it wasn’t overpowering or detracting at all (I like Brett but those that don’t shouldn’t worry about it in this beer). The carbonation was much lower than Carnevale but it also felt thinner which did detract from it a bit. There was a good deal of lemony citrus and the finish seemed to be more hop bitterness than clove phenols.

Both were overall very good and I wouldn’t hesitate to drink either of them again.

The photos are not of the beer I had (both were on draft) but my camera phone didn’t snap a good pic.

Have a favorite Farmhouse ale? Leave a comment below and I’ll try to check it out!

Click here for more info on Carnevale

Click here for more info on Saison de Lente

Photos CC Flickr. Carnevale: ttam_elbanak, Saison de Lente: mitch_j

 

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San Diego Beer Events, March 3rd – March 9th

Tags

2008 Barrel Aged Sea Monster Imperial Stout, 2009 Sea Monster Imperial Stout, Abandon Ship Smoked Lager, Abandon Ship Smoked Lager with Dried Smoked Chipotles, carnevale, Churchill's Finest Hour, churchill's renaissance, fiji yogurt, firkin friday, habanero sculpin ipa, knb bbq, miho gastrotruck, Old Tempest Ale, pliny the younger churchill's pub, saison de lente, Sea Monster Imperial Stout, sierra nevada week, Tongue Buckler

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added.

Thursday Mar 3rd:

Ballast Point is teaming up with MIHO Gastrotruck and Fiji Yogurt for another casual beer dinner. MIHO will be serving Drunken Wild Mexican Shrimp and Grits prepared with Abandon Ship Smoked Lager and Fiji will have a Ballast Point Tongue Buckler wort based yogurt, flavored with Peanut Butter and Honey. Ballast Point will be pouring plenty of beers including Abandon Ship Smoked Lager, Abandon Ship Smoked Lager with Dried Smoked Chipotles, Habanero Sculpin IPA, 2008 Barrel Aged Sea Monster Imperial Stout, 2009 Sea Monster Imperial Stout and this year’s version of Sea Monster Imperial Stout. They’ll have recommendations on which beers pair best with what food. This all happens from 4:30-7pm at Ballast Point/Homebrew Mart in Linda Vista.

Friday Mar 4th:

Another Friday, another Firkin Friday at Hamilton’s Tavern. This week they’ll feature Poway’s Lightning Brewery with a cask of their Old Tempest Ale, their 9.5% ABV UK style strong ale. As usual Hamilton’s should have a couple other Lightning beers on draft as well.

Saturday Mar 5th:

Churchill’s Pub and Grille in San Marcos is hosting their second annual Churchill’s Renaissance. Starting at 11am they’ll have all sorts of delicious beers that don’t see the light of day too often. Sure they’ll have Russian River Brewing Company’s much sought after Pliny the Younger, but they’ll also have a ton of other delicious and rare beers including this year’s version of Port Brewing Co.’s Churchill’s Finest Hour, an imperial stout aged in Jack Daniels whiskey barrels. Get there early for the extra rare stuff.

Sunday Mar 6th:

Sierra Nevada Beer BrunchBQ Finale is happening at KNB Wine Cellars from 11am-3pm to finish off their Sierra Nevada week. They should still have plenty of great Sierra Nevada beers and some delicious food on the BBQ.

Monday Mar 7th:

Pint night at both Toronado and Eleven with $3 drafts. Eleven offers all of their on-tap beers for $3 from open to close while Toronado offers locals for $3 from 6pm to close.

Tuesday Mar 8th:

Ritual Tavern will be having a Fat Tuesday celebration. They’ll have The Bruery’s Saison de Lente and Lost Abbey’s Carnevale on draft. For food they’ll have fried oyster Po-boys, gumbo and beignets.

Wednesday Mar 9th:

Ballast Point and Green Flash are teaming up to take over all the taps at Rancho Bernardo’s URGE Gastropub. They’ll split URGE’s 51 taps fairly evenly and if you get there early you might even score a commemorative pint glasses to take home. No word on what each brewery will be brining but expect some great beers to be pouring.

Down at Small Bar they’ll be featuring AleSmith with some keep the glass specials and pint glasses to take home.