Cigar City Brewing Cucumber Saison

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Cigar City Brewing Cucumber Saison - farmhouse ale with natural flavor added. Special thanks to a gentleman who has helped me acquire this and other fine beers not available in the Bay Area.

From the Cigar City Brewing website: “The humble gherkin. Usually we encounter this unassuming green fruit pickled or sliced and flung atop a salad. But the cucumber has so much more to offer us. It is a remarkably refreshing gourd with the power to cool a dry tongue and when just two sliced wheels are placed atop the eyes of a lounging lass in a stock photo ad for a spa the mystical cucumber has the magical ability to justify obscene spa service fees. Truly an amazing botanical gift to the world! We chose to employ the cucumber in a low gravity Saison to create a refreshing seasonal ale redolent with notes of honey, tropical fruit, lemon bitterness and of course cucumber. Brewed as a survival tool for the Florida Summer this cucumber creation features Citra and Sorachi Ace hops. So put some cucumber wheels on your eyes, lean back, relax and enjoy. Ahhhhhh.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a cloudy golden color with green hues, a thin and bubbly white head and spotty lacing.

Aroma: Cucumber dominates the nose followed by citrus and tropical hops, farmhouse yeast funk and pale malts.

Taste: Fresh cucumber – a lot like cucumber water, pepper, citrus and tropical hop bitterness, pale malt and honey sweetness and Saison yeast spice.

Overall: Light, clean and different, Cigar City Brewing Cucumber Saison is interestingly delicious.  At 5% ABV I don’t know that I’d add this to my “always in the beer fridge” list, but I would certainly drink it again. Since I have another bottle I’m looking forward to pairing it with something spicy perhaps.  Overall – I liked it.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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