The Rustic Urbanites Sante Adairius Rustic Ales
Located in the coastal city of Capitola, California, in a glorified warehouse with a cozy tasting room, draws its inspiration from traditional Belgian beers and brewing methods.
THERE’S A LITTLE BREWERY
in an industrial park outside of Santa Cruz that’s making a big name for itself as one of the area’s, if not the country’s, most inspired breweries. Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (SARA) is “enamored by saison,” says SARA Co-owner Adair Paterno, who opened Santa Adairius in 2012 with her partner Tim Clifford. For SARA, saison represents an ancient approach to thinking about beer: using ingredients that are local and seasonal, working with what you have.
SARA’S house saison, Anais, is a dry, lightly acidic, fruity Belgian-style beer that serves as the base for many barreled and blended beers. It is brewed with Pilsner, barley, wheat, and spelt malts and fermented with American-grown hops of European origin.
SARA also crafts Lucybelle, a crisp saison brewed with Brettanomyces, and West Ashley, a saison aged in French oak pinot noir barrels with apricots and their house yeast culture.
Then there’s Saison Bernice. In 2015, this beer was named one of twenty best beers in the world by TIME and the best Belgian-style Ale on ratebeer.com. Bernice is a dry, mixed-fermentation and bottleconditioned saison. It receives multiple yeast additions, including Brettanomyces. “Bernice showcases our mixed culture nicely,” Paterno says.
“Some might say our beer is yeastdriven, and to some extent that may be true,” says Clifford. “We have a very vigorous and expressive house culture that produces very balanced tart to sour beer.”
Unlike a lot of SARA’S mixed fermentation beers, Bernice does not spend any time in oak. Its lack of barrel profile allows the aromas and flavors of the brewery’s house cultures to shine. When barrel aging is employed at SARA, Paterno says, “Imparting a lot of wine or oak character is not our ultimate goal. Instead, the barrels become