June's Featured Corks and Caps
The month of June brings us some great choices that can hit the spot in the warmest of weather or on a beautiful 60 degree spring summer evening. After all we live in Ohio and we have no idea what mother nature will bring!
Our featured beer this month is Hennepin, named for the Belgian missionary who first described Niagara Falls, A beer for most seasons for sure. Omemgang says "No matter where you are Hennepin is the perfect ale for all season". Well they did nail that down pretty well.
Aromas jump out of the bottle of coriander, malts, ginger and ever so slight hops with a very concealed alcohol content which was well hidden for 7.7%. One thing that sticks in the back of my mind is that it did offer up slight tart. First pour of the bottle is clear gold with a 1/2 inch or so head that lasts, leaving considerable lacing. Carbonation is present all the way though this thin bodied beer. Quick note, I kept most of the sediment in the bottle.
As you pour this bottle conditioned, rich Farmhouse Saison style ale into your glass take moment and think about your surroundings. Outside on the patio hanging out with some friends in the summer, of a fall evening when you have to throw on a extra sweat shirt? The Hennepin just seems to adjust to to a pretty wide range of surroundings.
The taste lives up to the nose with regards to the clove and citric hop flavors up front. Slightly sweet, but mostly tart and a little funky. Finishes pretty clean with a very subtle hint of malt, but not much at all. The alcohol is not really able to be tasted in the beer.
I was very impressed with this beer, on the several occasions I tried it each evening was different. When it was warm out the Hennepin was refreshing and felt very light and very drinkable. On cooler evenings it felt a little more substantial and the 7.7% alcohol seems a little warmer, the beer felt more along the lines of a Belgium Tripel.
The Brewery
In October of 1997, not far from the birthplace of baseball, ground was broken for what was to become America's most unique microbrewery. Based on traditional Belgian farmhouse architecture and set on a former hop farm in upstate New York, Brewery Ommegang was born with the philosophy that truly unique ales must be built from the ground up. Now brewing five award-winning Belgian-style ales and offering daily tours and tastings, plus a full calendar of special events, Brewery Ommegang is the place where brewing is an art and partaking is a passion.
