CynicAle No More
Last night, Ms. BeerGeek had the excellent idea that we bike over to try the Sea Salt Eatery in Minnehaha Park. I regret to say we hadn’t been there yet, despite good reviews and ample time.
While there, I tried Surly’s Cynic Ale, which they’ve claimed as a Saison. I had it last summer and wasn’t too impressed. It was enjoyable enough, but it followed the pattern of their beers - aggressively hopped above all, but not very saison-y. I was pleasantly surprised at how GOOD my Cynic was this time around!
It had all the things a Saison should: extra-finish, hints of spicy/fruity yeast character and a little bit of the funk. The aroma was light and fruity, like bitter orange and peaches. The taste was dry, slightly astringent and complex the way green tea is when it’s slightly over steeped: hop bitterness, white pepper, lavender and lemon zest. At the end, just a hint of the magic Belgian yeast funk that makes Saison’s so great.
To be fair, this Cynic may have benefited from the halo effect of a perfect 70F night, fantiatic seafood, and being outdoors at arguably one of the Twin Cities’ finest natural landmarks, Minnehaha Falls.
That said, Surly does acknowledge (and affirm my memory) that they “tweaked the recipe a little bit this year” - more like improved by leaps and bounds. This is easily Surly’s best beer - I’m a cynic no more!
July 19, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Jesse, your claim that your a beer judge surprises me as I can’t see how in the world anyone with that kinda training would categorize their reviews with names like “Hoppy”, “Yeasty”, “Malty”, and “Belgian”. What’s the point in having the “Belgian” category if 1/2 of them are in the “Yeasty” category too?
July 20, 2007 at 8:24 am
I’m not writing primarily for other judges. While I try to talk about styles, I don’t expect my readers to respond to more detailed classification.
I hope they’ll come to understand how ingredients effect flavor, hence yeasty, hoppy, and malty. My experience with friends suggests these categories are helpful in defining their tastes beyond “dark” vs. “light” beer.
I think many beer enthusiasts also identify with “Belgian” beer as a category.
Further, a hefe-weizen is an example of a “yeasty” beer that isn’t Belgian; a Lambic is an example of a beer that’s “Belgian” but not “yeasty.”
How would you categorize things?