Beer Around Town

Wandering through the isles of our local bottle shops I usually feel on top of my game. Few beers I’ve never tried allowing me the option to either pick up the couple new releases or go with some old favorites. Well… my busy schedule has caught up to me and I’ve fallen behind. I arrived to countless new arrivals all beckoning to be tried. Pace yourself. Feeling the price creep blues I had to search out some interesting value beers to pair against the couple splurges I had to make. One that caught my eye and I’d heard quite a bit about was MacTarnahan’s new farmhouse beer Lip Stinger.

Ahh MacTarnahans. A brand on the edge of being forgotten. I recall the old plaid labels, the Blackwatch porter on tap everywhere, the Bourbon Barrel Blackwatch before barrel aging took off like Furbies. Now they seem to be working to build the brand back up with special releases and funky new labels eschewing the once prominent Scottish plaid for some whack artsy bullshit. Sure, the plaid may not have screamed Portland, but labels like this and Summer Grifter just scream artsy D-bag to me.

On to the beer. The pour reveals a soft golden body, great clarity, with a sturdy white head that has some life to it. Not quite as active as Dupont where even your last few sips still reside under an ample foam canopy, but not a quick rise and fall like many a beer. The aroma is dominated by the peppercorn, dry and crisp, underlying pilsner malts and a blend of spicy and citrus hops, overall pretty nice. Dupont pulls a lot of pepper notes from their yeast strain, so I’ve always thought pepper went nicely with a saison. The pepper nose on this reminds me of a saison I brewed earlier this year, although the yeast esters seem really muted. The first sip is dominated by the peppercorns, it takes a few more for the palate to tune out the pepper a bit and start in on the other flavors. A touch more vienna or something would have given a bit more intrigue up front along with the pilsner malt, but I thought the spiciness of the hops played off the peppercorn well. Finish had a bit of a medicinal phenol note, but I also got that in my homebrewed saison, so it could just be the yeast strain or peppercorns. The peppercorns seem to increase the perception of dryness giving the finish a crisp kick. My guess is they used the Saison blend yeast strain (if a saison yeast at all) instead of the Dupont, as the beer felt fairly dry and I know the Dupont has the tendency to get stuck in it’s attenuation and that would be a pain on a big batch like this. The yeast esters weren’t as fruity as a typical saison, so maybe they opted for another yeast and relied on the pepper to give the perception of “farmhouse ale”.

Overall this was so-so for me. At the price point I could see myself picking one up on a hot day now and then, an easy drinker with a quenching crispness. A six pack might be picked up now and again at a good price… any saison sixers out there? Though, if I was reaching for a saison I’d probably opt to spend a bit more for a Saison Rue, Dupont, or an Upright 4. Still a good effort and a step up for the Macs brand. If they are going to bring that brand back around they will have to step into some new territory and take gambles like this… oh and get some new labels.

Others thoughts?