I equivocated about buying this beer for a while. It intrigued me but the price was steep ($25 for a 750 ml bottle). Then I saw an article online listing the 25 best new beer in the U.S. It was number 15. The beer (as the photo to the right obviously gave away) is Brooklyn Brewing’s Sorachi Ace. An experimental, fascinating beer. The design for this beer was to highlight the new hop variety called Sorachi Ace. Brooklyn opted for a Saison base and then added generous amounts of this new hop. Originally planned as a one-time-only release, the reaction has been so positive that it will enter Brooklyn’s regular line up early this year.

You probably get a sense why I was intrigued. Maybe you don’t get why I was hesitant, but you haven’t seen my bank balance. At any rate, I finally picked it up and tried it. I wasn’t disappointed.

It has soft, almost wheat-like aroma with peppery-lemon accent and a bit of citrus. The beer is a hazy straw coloured with a mediocre head. The flavour attaches itself to lemon and pepper backed by a delicate soft malt, almost like straw. A grassy, citrusy hop flavour and bitterness round out the experience. The bitterness is not intense, but instead serves as an assertive insert into the normally light pepper of saison. I also pick up some honey and floral character in it, for the record.

The beer is sharp and refreshing but still finds a way to present an overall soft palate. As a stand alone saison it would be rather boring. The Sorachi Ace hops give it complexity and a unique citrus infusion to make it interesting. I liked this beer a lot, and if it weren’t for the price tag would find myself drinking it on a regular basis. I quite appreciate the balance between soft malt, tart lemon and hints of pepper. Any more bitterness and the beer would lose its edge, so I am glad they kept it at a reasonable level.

Brew Your Own magazine calls it a “lemony IPA”, but they couldn’t be more wrong. It is a sharp summer beer with moderate bitterness. It is no IPA, so don’t measure it on that scale. Think saison with a twist of lemon. That will do it.