Homestead Saison

Gresham, OR – December 10, 2020

This special release from MadCow Brewing is a limited barrel-aged offering of the brewery’s Saison and gets aged in a Pinot Noir barrel from Ponzi Vineyards and creates something special. 

This beautifully complex beer is light and dry, but also has alcohol warmth with understated wood notes layered over subtle dark fruit wine flavors… all emerging after aging for 6-9 months.

At 11% ABV, it’s a strong beer, our strongest yet. The barrels once housed Pinot Noir from Ponzi Vineyards from their 2013 harvest. Homestead Barrel Aged Saison will be available in 22oz. bottles exclusively in Oregon. 

“For our first attempt at a barrel aged beer we decided to keep it simple with a base saison recipe and let the ingredients and the barrel speak for themselves,” says head brewer and owner Jason Blair, “We were going to release for our third anniversary in June, but 2020 happened, so we targeted the end of this year.”

 The aromatics are a cross of light fruit, Belgian esters, and barrel elements. Barrel notes don’t overpower the base beer, but complement it instead, leaving layers of flavor. Beyond the aromatics, the flavor takes that of sweet grain and a depth of flavor that drinks more like a hybrid of a saison and a traditional Belgian ale as it warms. 

“We pitched the idea to a few of our ingredient partners and they pitched in to help.” Jason acknowledged, “Hops Direct helped us with our hop choices of Cluster, Galena, and Legacy to punch up the fruity flavors. Our fellow Gresham neighbors, Imperial yeast stepped up with our yeast choice of their Napoleon brand.”

You can purchase this limited release at the brewery’s website online for delivery, pick up, or shipping within Oregon.