Belgian saisons can be a bit decisive; For the most part, people either love their funky notes or can’t make it through an entire bottle. They’re kind of like Jazz, or Keanu Reeves movies. For those Belgian haters out there, I present to you Long Table Farmhouse Ale, a new seasonal from New Belgium that has just enough funky notes to keep it interesting. For the Keanu Reeves haters out there, you will be judged harshly in the afterlife.
This new beer is New Belgium’s modern take on a very old style of beer—basically Belgium’s answer to the table beer—the easy-drinking, low ABV beer you’d have with lunch when you came in from the fields. It sounds like a simple thing, but this particular beer is actually pretty damn complex. It’s a little bit creamy on the tongue, but there’s also a pilsner-like crispness once you get into the bottle. It’s bready, without being malty. There’s a little bit of fruitiness in there (maybe some peach?), but nothing over the top. It is very easy drinking, but there’s also nothing sessionable about this beer, which comes in at 6.2% ABV, well over the 5.0% “session bar.” It’s funky, even a little spicy, which comes from the Belgian yeast strain that New Belgium uses, but it’s not bitter in the least.
It’s a new summer seasonal, but I could lay out an argument for the brewery to turn this into a year-round beer. Mainly because it’s the kind of beer that goes well with everything, chicken or fish, steak or burgers. It’s awesome with spicy crawfish, and chili. I drank mine while watching Point Break for the 36th time, because I appreciate the finer things in life.
