Goose Island Halia 2013

Goose Island Halia is a Saison/Farmhouse Ale aged in wine barrels with peaches. I was very hesitant to pick up a bottle of this, both due to sticker shock and since I have not been much of a fan of any other “peach beer” I’ve tried. Since I am usually impressed with Goose Island saisons I finally broke down on my last trip to Atlanta and picked one up. Smart move, this is a fantastic beer. The pour is a super light golden color, seriously if it wasn’t a bit cloudy you could play a good trick on your light lager friends. I got little to no aroma at first, but after a few minutes the beer starts to smell like white wine and mild Brett funk. The taste is bright and refreshing, lots of the wine barrel, Belgian yeast, mild tart peach, and more of that mild Brett funk. (The GI website doesn’t say anything about a Brett yeast strain being used in this, but I am willing to bet there is one) Big potential for aging here, this should develop over the next few years.