It has to be Black Oak Summer Saison. I must say, I allowed the Toronto Ratebeer lads whip me up into a frenzied state about its pending release. I didn't get around to having it for a couple of weeks so I had to put up with hearing the guys raving about it...
So, I finally got around to having it at The Rhino , I was seated at their patio and was chuffed when the server told me they had it... so, it arrived: Looked in order but smelled very odd, lots of caramel and wet paper, lots of skunk... then the taste - caramel, caramel, caramel.... butter and caramel again... I left disappointed and confronted the lads.. they all came to the defence of the Summer Saison.
Anyhow, zip forward a week and I was in one of Toronto's finest beer establishments Bar Volo and saw that they had it on tap. I ordered a pint. What a different beast it was. Superb. Just a perfect summer beer.
Aroma 7
Appearance 4
Flavour 7
Palate 4
Overall 16
Total 3.8 out of 5
Kudos to Ken and the staff at Black Oak, this is a cracker of a brew.
Pic stolen from my pals at www.tasteto.com
