New Holland Four Witches Black Saison

Brewed By: New Holland Brewing Company in Holland, Michigan

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack purchased at Friar Tucks in Urbana, IL; 2012

Style/ABV: Black Saison/Dark Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale, 7.3%

 

New Holland brews a controversy....

 

New Holland Brewing Company are a Midwest brewery based out of Holland, Michigan. The brewery was founded in 1996, and they produce about 10,000 barrels annually. They have a handful of staples, including their Mad Hatter IPA and their The Poet Stout, and they also have a handful of seasonal offerings. Today's beer is a seasonal offering, and a beer that I would describe as fairly controversial.

 

The controversy starts when you check out this beer on Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate. At the moment, the beer is getting crushed on Ratebeer with a 20 overall rating, and a 1 rating for the style. Ouch. The beer is doing much better on BeerAdvocate, getting an 83, Good rating. I've noticed that you will occasionally find beers that have pretty big differences between Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate...my theory is that once a beer tanks on Ratebeer, it has a hard time coming back.

 

Credit to /u/Catesby, who understands how I feel.

The cause of the controversy isn't a total mystery. A lot of people seem offended by Four Witches' huge black licorice/anise presence. That's a fair thing to hold against a beer, since black licorice is a pretty strong flavor to begin with. But the real problem with this beer seems to be the fact that it is a "Black Saison" or "Dark Farmhouse Ale." Many breweries are rolling out these dark Farmhouse Ales. Examples include Jolly Pumpkin's Bam Noire, Goose Island's Pepe Nero, and Two Brother's Philosopher's Stone.

 

So what's the deal with this "Black Saison" or "Dark Farmhouse Ale?" Is it a legit, up-and-coming style? Many beers have their dark counterpart: Belgian Dark Strong Ales, Dunkelweizens, Cascadian Dark Ales, and Dunkel Bocks all come to mind. I took the conversation to Reddit's beer subreddit, /r/beerit. I asked, "What's the deal with Dark/Black Saisons?" I got a lot of answers, ranging from "Drink what you like" to "I think it's a strange style" to "Make your own mind up - it really is the only opinion that truly counts." Ultimately, the community seemed to think that style guidelines are restrictive to some extent, aggregate beer review sites can have downsides, and you should celebrate individualism and drink what you like.

And you know what, I dig it. I love a good controversy, and I happen to love the beer I'm about to review. So let's break this beer down, put it into a glass, transfer it to my tummy, and see how it stacks up.

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If you roll over to the New Holland Four Witches' page, you can get some info on this beer. The beer uses light and dark roasted wheat as the malt backbone, along with caramel rye and barley malts. The beer also uses "unique yeast," which is probably some strain of Belgian yeast. The bottle art is very impressive, and is done by artist Kyle Bice. The art on the bottle is a nod to the Wizard of Oz and author L. Frank Baum, who wrote the book while staying in Holland, MI. This beer clocks in at 7.3% ABV, and will probably cost your waistline around 200-270 calories per 12oz serving.  

New Holland Four Witches Black Saison

 

The beer pours a purple-black color, with a pinky's worth of khaki-brown colored head. The beer is too dark to see any carbonation, but you can conjure up some nice head when you swirl the beer in the glass. There's a little bit of residual alcohol on the glass, or "alcohol legs," as well as some clinging lace. When held to bright light, you get some brown on the edges, but this is still a very dark beer. The head is really sustaining, like a Belgian Strong Ale, so based on the appearance alone, you can guess this is well carbonated. 

The aroma on this is really nice, in my opinion. Okay, you get walloped with huge anise and black licorice up front. And you pick up on an aroma that is reminiscent to smelling a permanent marker or one of those scented grape markers from grade school. If you like black licorice, buy a case of this stuff right now. If you dig a little further, you start to pick up some dark fruits: plums, purple grapes, and juicy dark fruits. It smells a lot like a Belgian Dubbel, or a Strong Dark Ale; think Chimay Blue or Red. You also can pick up on some yeast funk in the aroma, along with some hints of spice: a touch of pepper, and earthy spice. It's a pretty complex nose when you get past the black licorice.

 

The taste is a nice follow-through of the nose, only going one step further and really hitting those barley notes home. You pick up on some slightly sour smoke in the finish. Up front is lively carbonation, yeast, spice, a touch of alcohol, and burgeoning fruits; the middle rolls into dark fruits and black licorice; the cleanup is that burnt wheat, roast, smokey, barley finish. The yeast is funky, with some playful barnyard and spice. I taste plums, grapes, and licorice. I'm getting some pepper as well. The anise/black licorice really seems to dominate mid-palate, with burnt smoke dominating the finish. It's dry on the finish, with lingering spice, smoke, and anise.

This is uber complex, and drinks like a Strong Dark Ale. The beer has champagne-like carbonation, and pretty good palate depth for the style. As I get into this more, I'm getting a lot more spices and peppery notes. I'd call this medium-full in terms of body. This is pretty smooth, and hides the 7.3% ABV very well. Front palate is carbonation, spice, yeast; middle is fruits and anise; back end is anise, smoke, lingering spice. Solid stuff.  

Rating: Above-Average

 

This is a Strong Above-Average beer for me. I like this beer a lot, and I've spent quite a bit of time with it. It's a weird beer though. Since the whole "Black Saison" style doesn't have any set guidelines, I think you can categorize this beer as such. If you gave me this beer in a blind tasting, I'd likely peg it as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. The smoke on the end might throw that one off, however. You do get a lot more anise in the aroma with this one compared to the taste. Having said that, if you dislike black licorice, stay away from this beer. And if you expect your Saisons to be gold, peppery, and full of citrus...this one will probably drive you nuts. I hope New Holland brews this one again. Cheers!