NEW GLARUS "SPOTTED COW" - SAISON AMERICAN

Since NEW GLARUS BREWING only brews and distributes in Wisconsin, and because Wisconsinites tend to l-o-v-e their beer, both beer dorks and hoi polloi alike, the beer's got a must-have quality for those of us who can't get it.  And that's why beer trading exists. I received four bottles of NEW GLARUS beers in a recent swap. albeit two that were nearly empty of liquid due to shaking and damage in transit that had essentially drained the liquid without popping the cap. ("Have you ever seen a grown man cry?"). But there was this 12-ounce bottle of SPOTTED COW in there. This beer's been in the "beer news" of late, thanks to a NYC bar that smuggled four cases of it out of Wisconsin to serve it to the Badger-lovin' Wisconsin expats in the Big Apple who frequent said bar for football Saturday. Apparently it's a big whoop-de-doo that could lead to fines and whatnot. Good thing I, uh, got mine legally, right?

NEW GLARUS SPOTTED COW is the most "American" saison/farmhouse ale I've ever had. Less magnanimous people than myself might say that it's a Belgian saison "dumbed down" for an American audience of twentysomething college football lovers, but me, I flip it the other way. I think it's an American pale ale with heavy fruit characteristics that happens to also be mildly Belgian-ized. It has an exceptionally strong fruit smell and taste (apricots is what I'm getting), and it's amazingly refreshing. Like drink-a-six-pack-in-one-sitting refreshing. A fruit saison? Oh yes. There's the faint whiff and taste of the barnyard hovering on the nose and tongue, and this sets it one very large step above your basic fruit beer, a.k.a what an MCP might call "girl beer". Well I sure ain't a girl and I thought this thing was great - a terrific introduction to this heralded brewer for me. 7.5/10.