text: Brewery Ommegang creates Belgian farmhouse funk in Otsego County | NewYorkUpstate.com
  Brewery Ommegang creates Belgian farmhouse funk in Otsego County
  By Jared Paventi | Posted August 10, 2018 at 07:31 AM
  Farmhouse ales and saisons do not get their due in the world of craft brewing. Maybe it's because one of the world's best, Brasserie Dupont's Saison Dupont, is so readily available. Maybe it's the time-consuming aging process. Maybe brewers shy away because it's tough to set your saison apart from the others.
  The proliferation of sour beers like goses, wild ales and soured ales have surpassed the farmhouse ale in popularity and availability, but the style's place in America is rooted in Upstate New York.
  Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown's Belgian-inspired and owned beermaker, brewed the first saison in America. Hennepin's debut in 2000, three years after the brewery opened, introduced the style to stateside brewing. We reviewed Hennepin in 2017 and it remains one of the finest interpretations of the Belgian style we have ever drank.
  Ommegang rolled out two saison variants for 2018, a lighter drinking version and a mixed fermentation ale. We drank them along with the Ommegang Pale Sour Ale, a funky sour that marks the brewery's first foray into blended sours.
  Find It: Widely throughout New York State.
  Beer: Pale Sour Ale
  Look: Golden to orange and opaque. There's a fingerwide layer of foam that disappears over time.
  Aroma: Sour and tart. It's not intense and vinegary, but still very much present.
  Taste: It opens tart with lemony notes. The acidity picks up throughout the beer before ending like a sweeter sparkling wine.
  Feel: Moderate and dry.
  Overall: This one was odd. It opens up like a lactobacillus-infected ale but finishes like a sparkling moscato or other sweet bubbly wine. I still don't know what to make of it, but I can see the appeal of keeping it in the year-round lineup.
  Beer: Saison Rose
  Look: Amber to pinkish, thanks to the hibiscus petals. The beer is opaque with a steady stream of carbonation that feeds a hefty cap of foam.
  Aroma: Fruity, but I couldn't identify a specific type of fruit here. There is also a bit of sweetness, likely from the grapes.
  Taste: The beer begins tart and fruity, with the grape sugars very present. The hibiscus adds a floral dryness, which carries through the end to the yeast and the telltale saison spiciness.
  Overall: It's a pretty cool beer, in terms of brewing process. A "delicate saison," as Ommegang describes it, is brewed with hibiscus flowers and introduced to chardonnay grape juice in fermentation. A second, "heartier" saison is brewed and aged on oak. They are then blended together for the final product. Even so, the grapes are very forward with a Welch's white grape juice-like flavor but dryer. The complexity of this beer warrants further research, but it is certainly worthy of a return appearance in 2019.
  Beer: Short Sleeve Saison
  Look: Straw to gold and translucent. A thick, foamy head lingers until the end.
  Aroma: Not much different than your average saison. Peppery and spicy with the slightly funky aroma.
  Taste: Sparkly and bright on the open. Coriander and bitter lemon enter in the middle before rounding out with the lemony tanginess at the end.
  Feel: There's quite a bit of carbonation on your tongue. It's much lighter in body and weight than the Hennepin.
  Overall: A session saison? It's quite enjoyable, packing the full flavor of a farmhouse ale without the added alcohol or weight.