I first had Iron Fist Brewing Co.’s beers during their opening weekend last October. I sampled all five beers in their initial lineup on draft and took home a bottle of what was my favorite, their Saison called Hired Hand. When I opened the bottle a few days later at home to say there were problems with it would be an understatement. I emailed the brewery and they were very nice about it, acknowledging there may have been a problem with their capper (it’s understandable, they had only been open for three days at that point) and offering to exchange it. I never got around to taking them up on that offer and continued to enjoy their beers on draft, but hadn’t had Hired Hand since they first opened. Seven months later I decided to give a fresh bottle of Hired Hand another chance. I picked it up at Bottlecraft in Little Italy $9.
Thankfully it appears as if their early bottling problems have been fixed as the beer in this bottle tasted just as great as when I had it on draft.
Hired Hand is a bit darker than many other Saisons with a slight reddish hue but it’s not necessarily out of the ordinary looking. The smell is more floral than I expected, but that isn’t a bad thing. There isn’t much floralness to the taste, it’s earthy, just a little sweet and reminiscent of spices that I can’t identify (but not peppery). As with most Saison’s the finish is dry. It does feel a little slick and oily in your mouth, but not so much so to distract from the beer.
I can see myself drinking quite a bit of Hired Hand as the weather warms up this summer, but thankfully it’s a year round beer, available fresh for those warm winter days we get here in San Diego as well.
Update: This price of Hired Hand at Bottlecraft has been updated, I originally incorrectly listed the price as around $10.99 when in fact it is $9 a bottle.
San Diego Beer Blog 