Stone Matt's "Burning Rosids" Imperial Cherry Wood Smoked Saison

Brewed By: Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2014

Style/ABV: "Imperial" Saison, 10.5% 
Reported IBUs: ???

Dying sucks. Especially when you are still young and have ambition...and especially when it's because of some freak brewery-related accident. Brewing beer is hard, dangerous work. Tonight's beer is Stone's tribute to a fallen employee: an experimental, small batch brew conceived by the departed himself.  About Stone:

Stone Brewing are one of the more prominent breweries in the American craft brewing scene. They were founded in 1996 in San Marcos, California, and moved to Escondido, California where they recently expanded their operations. Stone was founded by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch. Koch has a reputation among the craft beer community for voicing his opinion, not putting up with shit, and standing behind his beer. Also...farking woot and fizzy yellow beer is for bitches. 

There's not much to say about Matt's Burning Rosids, other than check out the tribute on Stone's website. This "Imperial" Saison is brewed with cherrywood-smoked malts. I'm putting "Imperial" in quotes because I dunno, the style seems weird to me. 

Matt's "Burning Rosids"

The beer pours into a dark bronze, almost-amber body, and kicks up three fingers of gold tinted head. Even in low light the beer looks transparent and filtered. Bright light confirms the dark gold, filtered body. There's some moderate streams of moderate sized carbonation bubbles rising upwards, and a finger of foamy, white head is sustaining nicely. The head is leaving lots of lacing.

The aroma is like a mix of a Hefeweizen with a mild Rauchbier...the aroma is bursting with white sugar, bananas, clove, bubblegum, and Belgian funk. The hint of cherrywood is undeniable in the aroma, with light salt and sauna wood. I'm getting a little hop character, and orange/lemon zest in the mix as well, with plenty of wheat malts. It smells very German, but not like a German, or at least not like any German I've smelled. 

This is very luscious and full-bodied. I wasn't expecting the dense assault of creamy wheat, vanilla, clove, bubblegum, and banana that you get up front. The beer then rolls into some really mild and subtle smoked wood notes. In between is some grain and alcohol. The smoked wood notes impart some leather, dry wood, and dark grain...it reminds me of Fantôme a bit, but eh. It's kind of boozy, to be honest. I still hate the "Imperial Saison" label. I feel like this falls between a Doppelweizen/Weizenbock and Saison with smoked elements that would bump it to a specialty beer category anyway. Or better yet, #YOLO, so define it however you want.

Again, this is a full-bodied beer. The 10.5% isn't completely hidden, with some alcohol showing up. The alcohol does play off the dark grains and provide a counterpoint to some of the smoked malts. Complexity is okay, and palate depth is good. As I sip on this some more, I'm getting more and more bitterness on the finish. I can't tell if that is the dark grains and smoked malts, or if this is also generously bittered with hops. I assume the latter, because Stone. You get creamy wheat, clove, bananas, white sugar, orange/lemon zest, and bubblegum up front; that rolls into bitter hops and spent bubblegum, and then the cherrywood smoked malts kick in with sauna wood and bitter grain; the back end features bitter grain, cherry wood, hoppy bitterness, and a drying finish. From thick, creamy, and sugary to smokey, bitter, and dry.  

Rating: Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this beer. It's probably a notch above average and it should get points for being experimental and original. And the dark grains + bubblegum wheat + bitter hops + smoked malts make for an interesting and incredibly bitter beer through and through. When you juxtapose the extreme bitter elements with the huge sweetness and 10.5%, you get something pretty enjoyable. Calling this beer a Saison is probably fair...it has many Saison elements. It's very Belgian-ale or German-ale esque. I'd love to see this beer aged, but I'm pretty sure it's not conditioned. Throw in some Brett and I think this could be banging. It really does remind me of Orval, or even the Engelszell Benno, with that earthy grain thing. There are flashes of Fantôme's mystery and greatness, but those Saisons are in a class of their own that is probably impossible to reproduce anytime soon. Food pairings for this beer: dry, spicy wings, barbecue food, pulled pork, dry rub ribs, grilled lamb, and hearty stews with lots of fat. Maybe a corn chowder? Yum.

Random Thought: Beer is supposed to be fun, and this beer is definitely that. Stone did a classy thing by temporarily immortalizing Matt with this brew. Here's to hoping they throw some Brett into this beer and maybe re-release it down the road.