Green Flash, the San Diego brewery perhaps known best for its award-winning IPA, “Palate Wrecker” ale, and tooth enamel-endangering Imperial IPA with an IBU of 101, has teamed up again with Belgium’s 139-year-old Brasserie St. Feuillien brewery on its forthcoming “Friendship Brew,” hitting the market in September with equal parts tradition and innovation, much like the two brewery’s own pedigrees. The last time the two came together was in Belgium in 2010 where the fruits of their labor bore a blonde Belgian ale available in limited quantities. This time the forces came together in San Diego for a release that will be available nationally.
The brewers, one just a decade old and the centurion-plus brewery considerably more time-worn, came together down south to make a still somewhat rare black saison, a bottle-conditioned beer produced with both American and European hops, Belgian yeast, and a secret blend of spices the partners are keeping close to the vest.
We scored an early taste to see the brew’s bottle conditioning yield a fat chocolate head when popped while the body bears a sturdy coffee-tinged, rich maltiness with the subdued interplay of berries and spice, and the ashy last blast of a porter. The new brew will become available next month in four packs and a 22 Oz. bottle, with full details on Green Flash’s website.
