Review: Obsolete Ski Ballet Saison

Last week was the 2nd annual Clear Lake Beer Festival hosted by Lakehouse and on the way to the event I stopped by the local Home Hardware - they have the best rural beer selection in Western Manitoba so I was going to for sure find a few new treats while in the area. I certainly did! They had a wide variety of Obsolete Brewing's beers in stock, a lot more than just under an hour away in Brandon, but hey.. the Home Hardware is a whole hour closer to the brewery than Brandon! I don't remember what all I picked out but I picked out one of their Witbiers as well as today's sampling, Ski Ballet Saison. Ski Ballet is part of their new Sportsolete Series (so obsolete sports?)

From the label: Introducting Ski Ballet Saison - A refreshing Belgian-style beer, dry and crispy, blending barley, wheat, and oats for a captivating pale-yellow pour. This delightful brew gracefully marries esters and phenols from fermentation with noble continental hops. Reminiscent of the obsolete ski ballet, last featured as a demonstration sport in the Winter Olympics of '88 and '92. It offers a symphony of flavour, showcasing the finesse of this bygone art. 5.4% ABV

Appearance: Golden straw body, good amount of my clarity. The head starts off a tad fizzy but ends up with close to no head at all, pretty flat, minimal carbonation in the body.

Aroma: Yep, that's a Belgian-style ale. Mild citrus notes of lemon, clove, a smidgen of coriander. There's a bit of a breadiness to it, grassy hops and a slight sweet syrup sweetness. Not overly spiced, fairly straight forward.

Taste: Grassy hops, a mild Belgian presence to it with clove, lemon. Fairly dry but unfortunately quite thin-bodied. Easy to drink.

Overall Thoughts: I found this to be a bit too reminiscent of their Belgian Witbier (review coming soon) but without as much of a Belgian spice or fruitiness to it. A bit too thin but I'm intrigued to see how this will evolve - not many breweries do Saisons to begin with so I hope we have a local option for a long time.

Check out my photos of Clear Lake Beer Fest here and here!