Turning crisp

I last checked in at Open Gate in August, when the autumn beer schedule was being drawn up. I promised you doppelbock. They promised me doppelbock. But alas it was not to be: although the beers are almost entirely confined to the taproom, they're subject to the usual stringent Guinness quality controls, and that batch didn't pass. So what else did the turn of the seasons bring?

Summer was not quite cold in its grave when the brewery summoned winter with a Sichuan Stout. This is built on the export frame at 5.9% ABV, though it's surprisingly sweet -- much as I love this style in general it's best when it's roasty and bitter. Here, the bitterness is no stronger than mainstream dark chocolate. The texture is a little on the thin side too. I let my cold and fizzy pint flatten and warm for a bit but it didn't get a whole lot fuller. Behind the chocolate lies the pepper, and it's tasted more than felt, adding quite a mild piquancy, one with no real burn. I'm sure that's deliberate and sensible, but I reckon if you're going to do daft stunt recipes, you may as well go all-in. The overall result is a fine export stout, but a simple, accessible chocolatey one. I enjoyed it once I stopped thinking about how I would have brewed it differently from Guinness did.

Summer then turned a bit Indian with the arrival of Peach Wit. It looks the part: a deep hazy yellow with a fluffy white head. The peach aroma is pretty powerful, covering anything else that might have been going on with floral peach perfume. And that goes even harder in the flavour, concentrated like an undiluted cordial. There's a bitter side too, which the brewery lists as a feature but to me tastes more like the kind of bug that creeps in when you overdo the fruit syrup. That said, I am assured it's done almost entirely via real, skin on, peaches. The base witbier contributes a pleasant softness which takes some of the edge off. The whole thing takes a bit of getting used to, and you need to be tolerant of gimmick, but I liked the all-in peach-bomb jollity. A half was plenty, however.

I was warned about the Pecan Pie Brown Ale before I'd even ordered it. After that awful hazelnut one from O'Hara's, however, my baseline expectations were low. It arrived looking a bit pale and sickly. The aroma does a great job of capturing real pecans, mixing the syrupy sweet side with a harder woody dry kick. The flavour is... a journey. Problem one is the beer is too thin. That introduces a harshness in the foretaste, where the nut crunch loses its sweetness and turns to cardboard or plywood. It doesn’t last long, however, and we're back to lovely dessertish pecans by the end. That finish runs for ages, still wafting maple vapours onto the palate long after the beer is gone. Something of a curate's egg, this. I don't think it quite works overall, but the aroma and aftertaste show that there's promise in the concept.

Arriving at the same time was El Dorado SMASH, a pale ale which suffers a bit from a similar thinness. It's less of a problem here, though. The beer is light and refreshing, zinging with zesty lemon, plus a modest swoosh of pine resin. It doesn't last long, however, fading to watery fizz after a few moments. That would be OK if it were a deliberately light beer, but seems off for this one's 5% ABV. It works, but it's far from spectacular. Still, I'm happy that Open Gate's hopped-up pale ales aren't the sad banana-laden messes they used to be. I'll take the win and move on.

Out next was Midnight Saison, subsequently renamed Oregano Bay. I've had so many great black saisons over the years, it's a shame they're not more commonplace. This one is 5.5% ABV and the base is one of the fruitier examples, giving me a slice of banana in with its dry straw and tickle of roast. There's a gimmick, however: the addition (per the name) of oregano and bay leaf, and that's not subtle. If you don't like your beer tasting like the rub for a nice piece of fish, this might be best avoided. I liked the big herb of it, however, which mixes oily winterish savoury notes -- sage and rosemary, for me, even though they're not used -- with the base beer's sweeter fruit side. I've made it sound busy, but all the contrasting flavours integrate well with each other and the beer, by the pint, is thirst-quenching, as saison ought to be. Excellent work.

I have long lauded Open Gate's prowess with lagers, though recent efforts haven't quite lived up to the early glories. There's a return to form, however, with First Draught, a Helles they put out in October. The slight haze was a little concerning but it shouldn't have been. This is a masterpiece of balance, crisp as you like and pilsner-dry rather than Helles cakey, which is my preference. The hop flavour is pure nobility, but delicate with it, offering salad leaves and a slightly harder spinach bite. At 4.5% ABV it's light, and quite fizzy too. This makes it highly refreshing and very well suited to session drinking. I might have badged it as more of a Kellerbier, myself, but such distinctions are immaterial in these parts. Quality is what counts.

That was followed swiftly by The Final Act, in the rare and retro style of American Wheat. I seem to remember these being clear, since they don't use a weissbier yeast. This doesn't either, but is the same hazy sunset orange of many a weizen. The yeast is neutral, however, and that allows for a massive blast of C-hops. Almost too much, in fact. It's the raw green acidity of biting a pellet, an effect that starts slowly but builds gradually. In a world where big hops has come to mean tropical and stonefruit, this is an educational throwback to what "American" used to signify when applied to beer. Behind the hops, there's a clean lager-like crispness with a hint of grain husk and breadcrust. The wheat element contributes a certain softness to the texture, helping balance the hard bittering. I liked it. If the aim was to do hard and uncompromising American hops, it worked, and better than many a contemporary remake of west coast IPA. IBU chasers, take note.

I'm going to draw a line under this post here, though the next raft of Open Gate beers will be landing in very soon. Mexican hot chocolate stout and sour rhubarb may be making an appearance, if they pass QA.