Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Milwaukee Brewing Booyah Review



Name: Milwaukee Brewing Booyah
Style: Saison
ABV: 6.5%

So a funny thing happened to me last night: I unknowingly started a reviewing a beer that I already reviewed, which was Milwaukee Brewing's Hop Happy. I had the article entire proofread and everything before I looked at the bottle and realized the name looked awfully familiar. It was then I looked back at my history and realized that I had this back in May. For the first time, ever I had to scrap a review.

Well it's time to move on and I'm doing so with Milwaukee Brewing's Booyah Saison Style Ale. Why such the in-your-face name? Rather than try to explain the story behind the name, I'm just going to cut and paste from the brewery's website:

We love Wisconsin. Our history and culture give us inspiration for brewing and naming beers.
Since this is a Belgian-style beer, the Flemish-Belgian history of the Green Bay area flows with stories like a keg with a bung blowout.

A very social cultural staple is the Booyah, which is a 55 gallon drum-over-fire stew that is cooked using an “everything but the kitchen sink” mentality, and tended by cooks over a few brews.

.....makes sense to me! Let's find out how this is!

Booyah pours a very cloudy dark orange color with no visible carbonation. The head takes on a very thin, almost-translucent appearance.

The nose has some spices, pilsner malts and usually strong lemon zest. I'm also getting some pale malts and some funkiness that resides in the back. It smells like a saison with just a touch of Brett.

The flavor starts out with some mild Belgian Yeasts with some strong lemon zest. I'm also getting some moderate Brett funkiness, a bit of malted wheat, tart white grapes, and pilsner-pale malts. As for the aftertaste, it's surprisingly dry with just a hint of tartness and light yeastiness. The description says there is rye used in this beer but I'm not really picking up on any of it with the exception of the nose. The best way to describe the taste is that it's like a Saison and a Berliner Weiss.

As you have have guessed, the taste is a lot more complex than the nose leads you to believe. It may seem a bit too sour for those looking for a traditional saison but I think this works quite well for what it is. Your best bet is to have a glass and decide for yourself.

Milwaukee Brewing Booyah - 8/10

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