Lyons' Liquid Likables (Charles,Beer Department)

With so much beer being brewed south of the Mason-Dixon, it's easy to overlook some of the craftier creations from our yankee cousins.  There is a saison-style beer out of Illinois that is a uniquely philosophical approach in process.  In our fumbling attempts to better understand our given world we have learned to stay on our toes.  Through the disciplines of logic, metaphysics, and epistemology are our intial theories and premises called into question.  It is in the nature of the dilligent researcher to always reevaluate their own theories and assumptions.  The great minds at Goose Island Brewing in Chicago have had some real innovative success with their think (as well as their brew) tanks.  I was very recently invited to a patio social with a few brewer-buddies.  The idea was to convene a collection of heat-beating beers and relish the process of ranking them over a typical june afternoon.  By broad consensus, this fresh, new take on saison was by all means paramount.  20% of each batch is aged in wine barrels and laden with orange peel.  This has some microbiological ramifications but it's the refreshing character that leaps off the tip of the tongue.  It is a sunrise sweet, beginning with a musty, belgian yeast flavor and crescendoing in a dry, nasal fashion that reminds one of cantelope and crisp, green apple.  The ale simply becomes greater than the sum of it's parts.  The beer becomes lighter and brighter, so pour slowly.  The head is going to appear bready and thick, but is finely beaded and snow-white--sure to dissippate quickly.  Do NOT be afraid to just bury your nose in it.  The beer itself never checked in at my belly.  Not for an instant could i tell that I'd even had a beer (yet alone two, three...) save for the dry palate and the froth ringing my tasting glass.  This carefully calibrated elixir draws from its fruit-tone and into a dry, oaked finish that leaves you thirsty for just one more.  It also had a brilliant sparkle and drinks best from a flute.