Beer New England & Topper's Mountain Wines Saison du Sauvy

The New England team make impressive beer on their own, but bring them together with other producers and the sky’s the limit. Here they’ve joined forces with their favourite local winery, Topper’s Mountain Wines, to create the first brew in their All Together Project: Saison du Sauvy.

The brew crew began this saison the same way they would for their much loved farmhouse ale, fermenting the wort with Belgian saison yeast in open tanks and letting Hallertau Mittlefruh hops bring the bitterness. But instead of adding in the fruitiness of new world hops, here they’ve blended and refermented the beer with 10 percent sauvignon blanc grape juice from their winery mates.

It pours a straw colour with just a touch of natural cloudiness, and streams of bubbles rising lazily toward the fluffy head. If it weren’t for that foam on top, you could probably tell me I was looking at a sauv blanc Pét Nat and I’d believe you. The aroma certainly lends itself to white wine with a little funk, but in the mouth this is like three beers in one: there’s a mouthful of mashed banana, but it’s softer than a hefeweizen; there’s an obvious farmhouse vibe to it all, yet it’s cleaner than many saisons; there’s a creamy texture and a note of orange and spice on the end, but it’s has more charisma than a witbier.

Call it sacrilegious, but I want to drink this with pizza. I’m not talking a $5 Traditional Range pizza from Dominos; I'm talking a damn fine Naples-style pizza with a puffy charred crust, dripping with olive oil. Give me a Saison du Sauvy and a Marinara du Saucy and get out of my way.

Mick Wüst