Not Hennepin. Not Saison Dupont. Or is it?

Beerwise, I pulled out something I was sure would work, but didn’t:  Victory Brewing’s Saison

I have encountered two very different takes on the saison style: those brewed by Brasserie Fantôme, and everything else.  Fantôme saisons are all crazy earthy and funky, sometimes tart, and incredibly complex.  Sometimes using fruit in very subtle, non-cloying ways.  All others seem to be little more than slight variations on Saison Dupont, which is just barely distinguishable from a common Belgian pale ale.

Considering the history of the style, which involved Belgian farmers making “house” beers with a wide variety of ingredients they had around the farm, it seems safe to assume that Fantôme gets closer to the saisons of days long past.

Like so many others, Victory’s take on the style seems to be little more than a typical Belgian pale ale fermented with the Saison Dupont strain of yeast.  Which makes for a very good beer, don’t get me wrong.  It just falls short of the complexity and earthy/funky glory of the Fantôme lineup.

All that said, the matchup here was not right.  Although the beer was very good by Belgian pale ale standards (as opposed to Fantôme standards), it just didn’t work with the leftover chicken alfredo bake.  Strange clash.  A bit of that harshness I’ve encountered with my ill-fated malty pairings, even though this is not at all a malty beer.

Hmm.

Tonight featured a little something I shot from the hip.  I essentially just scoured my fridge and freezer for ingredients that needed to be used up and which would go together.  I ended up throwing in half a yellow onion, some celery, carrots, and chicken.  A little olive oil, and a package of Italian dressing mix (it came in a box with 4!) and simmer while the noodles cook.  I had penne on hand.  Once the veggies and chicken were cooked through, I added in a jar of roasted red pepper alfredo we had on the shelf and let it all simmer just a little longer.

Chicken, cream, and lots of cheese. Can't be messed up.

At that point, I put everything in a casserole dish and covered with various cheeses we had on hand: white cheddar, yellow cheddar, and feta.  I baked it all at 375 for about 15 minutes, served it up on a plate and then topped with fresh grated romano cheese.  It was great, and Sweetwater IPA went very nicely with it.

American IPA is my favorite style, and Sweetwater IPA is among my favorites.  I’ve probably tasted close to a hundred different IPAs over the years, yet Southeastern brewery Sweetwater produces one of my faves, even compared to many Pacific Northwest examples.  It also happens to have been my first.

It has these remarkable fruity/peachy undertones produced solely by the hops.  And these flavors melded well with the carrots, celery, and roasted red pepper of this homespun Italian-style dish.

I imagine there’s something out there that would have gone even better, but this was certainly good.