One Ear

Draft - Light sweet honey notes and some sod stone fruit. Clearish gold with a decent white head. Nice funky sweet stone fruit, light honey and candy notes. Nice.

On tap at Farmhouse Festival Vancouver, pours a hazy yellow with a medium white head. Aroma brings out Belgian yeast, with light spiciness and fairly prominent floral qualities. Flavour is among the same lines, with floral notes, spicy Belgian yeast and some dry toasted grains. Moderately complex and well-integrated. Very good.

Smoke and Beer, Brooklyn bottle: pours mostly clear yellow with a white head. Aroma is farmhousey funk to an extent, some hops in the nose. Taste is lightly bitter and kind of funky. Kind of a standard saison, but well balanced. Clean but interesting.

On tap at BruFrou fest, it is a nice bright semi opaque gold with a spicy funk saison aroma with some wheat notes. Very active carbonation it delivers a hit of tart limes then aggressive brett notes on a raspily carbonated body. Not my thing but nice.

Draught @ Malt and Mold. Hazy bright yellow with small creamy whitish head, bread aroma, medium carbonation, thick body, slightly sweet citrusy body, medium bitter finish. Smooth and fulfilling.

375ml bottle from a four pack - nice to see them transitioning from 6-7 buck single bottles to 10-11 buck four packs for some of their beers - I was mostly drawn to this because of the "naked saison" on the label - "thank god," I though, "a local saison that isn’t all mucked up with bullshit" - pour’s looking good - lively, with a thick, well-sustained head - a little murky, but okay - nose is tropical fruit, slight bugginess, grapefruit, hay, a light bit of pepper - soft mouthfeel - like some of their other saisons, I find it just slightly too sweet up front, but it is otherwise pretty good - some sweet, juicy tropical fruit up front - followed by rustic wheat and dusty yeast - then some white pepper and a drier, more crackery malt character - some tropical juiciness returns for the finish, with some lingering spicy phenolics - not a home run, but at least a triple.

I bought this 12.7oz bottle because it was a rare opportunity to: a) drink a Trinity beer that isn’t bugged up and b) its actually affordable (~$2.80). Frankly, its mostly the latter. Bottle shook up a little as I drove it over from Beer Junction to my house. Thus, it pours cloudy but a radiant pale golden color into a Les 3 Fourquets Lupulus stemmed globe/goblet glass. Medium sized head with decent head retention. Aroma is airy/effervescent, hay, lemon, and a little Belgian dough. Mouthfeel is full yet light on the palate with enough carbonation to sprinkle around the flavors all over my mouth. Flavors again combine a flavor easing lemon character with a lightly rustic quality and present malt character that like a spritzy biscuit. Ugh, am I starting to get over the top on my deScriptors? Leaves an herbal-lemon aftertaste. 8/4/9/4/17 = 4.2

So, I bought another bottle b/c I loved the first one so much. But I am hacing such a different experience. Its not rustic, its too lemony, its a bit too sweet and very malt driven. I don’t know what to think, I guess it really matters on my mood. Though, I have the same experience with Saison Dupont. Now its more like 7/4/7/3/15 = 3.6. I ll give it a middle rating.

Pint at the brewery. Pale, clear yellow, with a medium, foamy, white head that leaves thick lacing. The nose is straw, bananas, lemon zest, and a musty character. Sweet, with a subtle bitterness and just a hint of sour. Light to medium body, crisp, sticky, and lightly carbonated. This is a nice, easy saison, with a lovely, balanced flavor.