The 15 Blogger Collaborative Review of Buddha Nuvo is Here!

As we mentioned before, we were a part of a fifteen blogger collaborative review of the Buddha Nuvo beer, which was a fourteen brewery collaborative saison. The review was organized by Jonathan Shikes of Westword in Denver. Check out his full, original post, for more details.

Here's how the review turned out, complete with a list of Colorado beer bloggers at the end. Personally, I think Jonathan did a fabulous job at piecing our fragmented parts together to make a coherent review. Please check out all their blogs too. And then for a recap of our full review of the beer, go here:

Buddha Nuvo

In theory, you would think that fourteen brewers collaborating on one beer would be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, but Buddha Nuvo proves this cliche wrong. [1] Light in body, yet full of flavor, it pours and drinks like

Buddha Nuvo Review: Complexity, Originality, and $40

UPDATE - We Re-Reviewed this beer March, 2012 (7 months later). It's much different now.

We were invited to be a part of a large beer blog collaborative review of Buddha Nuvo, organized by Westword's Jonathan Shikes. I think there's at least 15 Colorado beer bloggers reviewing the beer, just as there were 14 breweries that helped make the beer. The section that Isaac and I submitted is, so far, a bit more negative than the rest of the reviews, and I wanted to take the opportunity here to clarify some of the things we say in that review and really to talk about the rest of the beer from our perspective. The full collaborative review is located here, but for now, here's our portion:

Complex, strange, and original, yes, but worth $40? The quickly dissipating head is a major flaw. And we think the beer is too young, the alcohol gives it a hot finish and the citrus gives it a solventy feeling that with age may mellow out.

Ultimately the reason why we decided to bring these things up was because in the collaborative review no one had done it yet, and we thought it important to say. Overall we liked the beer, and we have our own subjective rating system where the beer ended up getting an 'excellent' score despite some of it's flaws but the flaws are important things to talk about. We were there for the brewing and bottling of the beer, so we've been really excited about sampling it, and we are really happy to be able to do so. So let's get an actual review going from our perspective:

Buddha Nuvo Review:

First:
This is the second bottle of Buddha Nuvo that we opened. The first we opened on the very

Buddha Nuvo is Bottled and Almost Ready

Last week the collaborative and long-awaited Buddha Nuvo beer was bottled. You might remember this beer from our earlier image recap of the brew day. Check out that earlier post to see more info about how the beer was made and who contributed what in making it. The beer was originally brewed on Feburary 11th, and after initial fermentation it was stored in Oak Barrels. Numerous breweries all over Colorado have had a hand in the making of this beer, whether it was help conceptualizing it, providing equipment, ingredients, or simply lending a helping hand during production. The beer is a fundraiser for the Colorado Brewer's Guild. More information on that, where to find the beer, and a lot more pictures are below. I had a video but it's having problems. I'll post it later if I can get it to work (sorry Kjell!)

Here's the final product, dipped in wax and signed by
Jim Stinson of Rockyard and Jason Yester of Trinity

The beer is a 12% Saison, conceived initially by Jason at Trinity and added to and changed by many other brewers. Rockyard Brewing in Castle Rock provided the brewing space, fermentation space, checked in on the beer, and is handling the distribution. The malt bill of the beer consists of a complex blend Weyerman Pilsen, Vienna, Rye, and spelt for a golden color yet vinous body. Pumpkin was added in the boil for the smooth textures dancing over the palate. Several varieties of whole peppercorns were added to the boil to further reinforce the expected spiciness of this Saison. 5 distinct yeasts creating a spicy and fruity ester profile. 3 of the yeasts were provided by Troy at AC Golden. Post fermentation the batch aged on American Oak Chardonnay barrels, 6 varieties of Bretta, and the rare fruit known as Buddha's Hand. Buddha's hand was also in the boil.

A look from the top on bottling day

We had sampled the un-aged version of the beer at the Saison Fest earlier this year and it seemed quite promising. The oak barrels were provided by Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave. Earlier in the week he and Jim Stinson mixed the beer from the barrels and prepped it for the bottles. The bottles were pre-labeled by some very appreciated folks at Rockyard.