The 2-4 Beers of Christmas: Day 1 Winding Road for 7 Km

Beer # 164 Winding Road for 7 Km Rye Saison

Sawdust City Brewing Company

Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Rye Saison Can Conditioned 7.0 % ABV Aluminium Can 473 ml.
$3.50 (Canadian) At the Brewery
Twitter: @SawdustCityBeer

Well today is my first post in my self-styled beer advent calendar, and I was excited to pick Winding Road for 7 Km as my first offering. Rye beers are quickly becoming a favourite with me. I love the different flavours brought about by this seriously underutilised grain. This beer is Sawdust City's newest offering, and it has been on sale (at the brewery only) since Friday. And as you can guess by the can's lack of clothing it is a limited run. There is some available in kegs at select locations (check you local craft beer hangouts) but this one is extra special. This is the first time a beer has been "Can Conditioned' in Ontario. (To the best of anyone's knowledge correct me if you think I'm wrong). Some of you may be familiar with bottle conditioning, which is a process whereby extra yeast is added to the bottle prior to being capped. Then the bottles are aged for a period of time at room temperature to allow the yeast to ferment the remaining sugars and give the beer an extra natural carbonation. Being inside the bottle the carbon dioxide has nowhere to go so it gets dissolved into the beer. This gives the end product a very fine almost mousse-like carbonation. Champagne undergoes a similar process (which is slightly more complex). The secondary fermentation also gives the beer a yeasty, bready, flavour, and "dries" the beer out a bit, leaving less residual sugars and making the beer more "refined."

This beer has undergone a similar process, only in place of the bottles, the extra yeast was sealed in the cans and the beer was left a room temperature for about 21 days.

Enough fermenting already, onto the tasting...


Pours a hazy gold colour with an enormous head that is off white with hints of brown. The big fluffy head has good staying power, starts out as small to medium sized bubble but slowly collapses into large open bubbles. When first cracked, the can gave off a wonderful aroma of apples. The nose is slightly boozy, a hint of baking spice, and some yeasty fresh risen bread. Yeast is on the first sip along with some nice rye bread. Some caramelisation and a little fresh grain and wheat. The mouthfeel is very bubbly, champagne-like, as the bubbles break across the tongue. There is a tart malic acid feel to the middle, somewhat appley and the finish is some medicinal hops. Aeration whips the beer up into a froth that fills the mouth leaving a distinct apple / pear taste and a good hit of the alcohol and a touch of minerals right at the end.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 



Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Experience:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Christmas Spirit 5/6 PASS


Final Thoughts:

Well the brochure says this beer was to be an autumn Saison but obviously it was a little late. But that's OK, we can wait for good beer. Delicious, refreshing, good flavour, and well rounded. Please pick one up if you can... If only for the experience of having the first can conditioned beer in Ontario.


Cheers And Beery Christmas


CJT


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