Beer Review - Hennepin

Ommegang Hennepin - 7.7% ABV

There are many styles of beer that you may say are springtime beers.  You may say that a German bock is a spring beer because the beer is lighter than the winter beers but still with full flavor, it is easy to drink and not too filling so that you can put away a few and still feel like you can go out and play in the rain.  You may say that the chocolate stouts and porters are spring beers because they are full of chocolatey goodness like all of those Easter candies that you pig out on when you get them for half price the week after the holiday (hey, you don't have to celebrate Easter to take advantage of cheap ass candy). 

These are pretty good examples of spring beers, but let me describe for you the perfect spring beer. 

The perfect spring beer would remind you of  the golden glow created by the sun shining through the morning mist.   It would pour easily with a minimal head and be only lightly carbonated so that it is easy to drink.  The flavor?  Oh my, the flavor would be that of a freshly planted garden.  The flavor reminiscent of new growing things ,... and freshly turned earth.  The taste should remind you of the scents of springtime flowers, scents like the refreshing lemonly smell of the magnolia.  All of these tastes are the tastes that you get in the Belgian farmhouse ales...the saisons.

My favorite ales, the saisons.  So many flavors, so much interest, so very, very good.  One of the finest of the saisons is made right here in the USA by the Ommegang Brewery and is called Hennepin.  Superb from beginning to end.

Brewery Ommegang
656 County Highway 33
Cooperstown NY 13326-9248
http://www.ommegang.com/