Dispatches From Omaha

Not all Omaha drinking was done around town. Much of the sampled came at the Athens brownstone on Farnam. Everything reviewed here was purchased at Beertopia, the city's finest beer-only retailer (also on Farnam). My first brew from Beertopia was a Quebec biere du miel that tasted like a Scotch ale or Belgian Dubbel brewed with honey and spices. But alas, its name has fled, so no review. But Belgian and Belgian-style ales were everywhere, with brewers eagerly willing to experiment. Here are two Belgian-style medal winners (in my mind) that I encountered in Omaha.

Boulevard Collaboration No. 2: White IPA
With their sad departure from Nashville in 2010, I missed the latest of Boulevard's big beers from its Smokestack Series. The second entry in the collaboration series finds Boulevard working with Oregon's Deschutes Brewery to create white IPA, marrying the malts of Belgian white ales and an IPA's hops to create a new style in contrast to the black IPAs craft brewers keep churning out.

Did I mention how wildly they succeeded? An intensely dense head follows a bright herbal, floral nose. The brewers use lemongrass and sage to complement the normal wit spices of coriander and orange peel. White IPA finishes extremely dry and floral, with hints of chamomile and rougher spices behind it. The tremendous bouquet is unlike any other beer.

The breweries worked off a common recipe but each produced a version for its own label. In four weeks, the hunt begins for Deschutes' take on white IPA. I can only hope it is unique and drinkable as the Kansas City-brewed batch.

IV Saison: Brassierie Jandrain-Jandrenouille

Sampled: August 7, 2011
European saisons occasionally fall into a taste rut. They toss in the same spices and if allowed to age, turn into geysers of foam that smell like an overdose of B vitamins.

Not so with IV Saison, the closest thing I've tasted to the best domestic saison, Hill Farmstead's Arthur. The nose is ripe with coriander and hops, with the creamy lace hinting at some dry-hopping.

Amazingly fresh for an import, it crackles with the coriander and a bedrock of other spices. The 750 mL capped bottle has no date details, leaving no clues as to how it could pour so fresh. Very light in body, it sports a strangely enjoyable vegetative character. IV Saison undoubtedly shows the influence of American craft brewers on traditional Franco-Belgian styles.

The creamy lace envelopes a lemon-citrus body that gains strength due to lemon and grains of paradise shining on the finish. It's only 6.5 percent and very easy drinking. Stumbling onto IV Saison makes me want to immediately hunt down I, II and III. Previously unsampled, Jandrain-Jandrenouille pours superb depth behind its simple beer names.