NOTES: Cask @ RFD in DC
STYLE: Saison
ABV: 7.5%
APPEARANCE: Glowing, hazy gold
HEAD: Big, pillowy, off-white and long-lasting.
LACING: Excellent, as you would expect from a cask.
NOSE: Very fruity and even more spicy. Loads of clove, bananas, unripe green apples and an undercurrent of yeast and bread dough. Very little hop presence.
TASTE: A little sweeter and spicier than other Saisons. More like a Belgian Golden Ale. Clove, coriander, apples, and bananas all floating on a bed of soft, warm, biscuits. A hint of alcohol makes the finish a touch drying and bitter. I suspect the cask improved the flavor immensely, but all I can do is judge based on what I was served. I’m sure a bottled version would be very different.
MOUTHFEEL: As with all good cask-conditioned beers, the mouthfeel is frothy, creamy, and smooth. It’s a medium-bodied brew…not heavy in the slightest.
DRINKABILITY: First of all, props for naming this beer after a well-known maritime verse that brought back memories from the halcyon days of my youth (like Doc and Suday, I grew up in a small ocean-side town in New England). The verse begins “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight / Red sky at morning, sailor’s take warning.” What’s it mean? I have no idea. And what does it have to do with drinkability? Absolutely nothing. But I like the name so the beer gets a ratings boost for that. In truth, this may not be a great Saison, but the cask-conditioning mellows out all the rough edges and leaves a nice, drinkable brew.
RATING: 3 Hops
ALEHEADS 
Good stuff, Bro B. The adage is, as I understand it, eons old (that’s centuries to you and me). In the words of Shakespeare: “Like a red morn that ever yet betokened, Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds, Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.” In the words of Matthew (quoting Jesus): “When in evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: For the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today; for the sky is red and lowering.”
Judeo-Christian-Elizabethan weather lore notwithstanding, in this context I take it as a subtle reminder that drinking a 3-hop saison at night is delightful, but drinking a 3-hop saison with breakfast may lead to a very eventful morning commute. Wisdom to live by.
* Please drink responsibly.