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Out of the Bottle: Surly Cynic, proof that there's nothing wrong with buying a kit.

I follow a lot of beer websites. Occasionally, a deal comes up on one of them that's too good to pass up. When a chance to get a nice discount on kits at Northern Brewer came along, I pounced.

I purchased the partial mash version of Surly Cynic and gave it a whirl. The kit was purportedly created by the brewers at Surly Brewing and is a copy of their take on a Saison. I won't post the recipe, because that would allow all of you to cheat and not buy the kit. The only change I made was with the yeast. I wanted the full Saison experience, so I picked up Wyeast's French Saison instead of the prescribed Belgian Ardennes. Otherwise, I followed the kit's instructions.

The yeast got to work within eight hours of pitching, but it wasn't the fastest worker. The fermentation lock bubbled regularly for a couple weeks before dying down. Cynic is fairly light, so it was ready to bottle after three weeks. After a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning, it was good to go. The finished beer has an alcohol content of 5.9%

Cynic pours with a hazy apricot pigment and has a generous eggshell cap. I can tell right off the bat that I went a little crazy with the priming sugar. The bubbles in the beer are frenetic. I like a good amount of fizz in my Saison, but..... On the upside, the bubbles are holding the head up nicely.

I have a weakness for certain hop varieties. A new one has made it onto my list. The lone flavor and aroma hop in this beer is Styrian Goldings. It's closely related to one of my favorite English hops: Fuggles. It's both fruity and earthy, with a touch of spice. It is anything but the citrus bomb of many popular American hop varieties. I knew I would like it when I opened the hop packet on brewing day.

Anyway, Cynic is an interesting beer. The yeast does a lot of the work. It brings a subtle sourdough funk to both the aroma and flavor. The grain bill for this beer also includes a fair amount of aciduated malt. You can tell its there and its acidity is a bit too much for my tastes. If I were to do this over, I would either cut it way back, or eliminate the grain all together. The rest of the flavor is quite nice. The sweet/bitter balance leans ever so slightly to the bitter side. The body is acceptably light and a bit grainy. Again, my heavy hand with the priming sugar nets a bit too much tingle.

With many commercial Saisons weighing in with high alcohol contents, this kit's relative lightness is highly welcome. The story goes that Saisons were originally brewed to quench the thirst of farm workers during in the late summer harvest. A relatively light one like this lets you plow the fields without getting plowed yourself.

For the brewer nervous about formulating their own recipes, I strongly recommend this one.

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