Battleground

Belgian-inspired ale by this Tennessee craft brewery, bottle from De Caigny - which got it from their collaboration with Billie's Craft Beer Festival in Antwerp. The bottle opens with a hiss, but there is no gushing. Initially rather thick head formation, but loosely structured and large-bubbled, dissolving quickly and visibly into a thinnish, off-white moussy ring and some dots in the middle, sustained by vivid fizz rising up through a hazy, indeed very witbier-looking, pale yellow straw blonde beer with deeper golden tinge. Aroma of withering leek and spoiling cucumber, dusty old coriander seed, soggy old bread, dried camomile blossoms, dried banana peel, moist white pepper, Chinese green tea, potato juice, parsnip, margarine, woodsorrel and, when more of the yeast is added, something not unlike rotten green beans... Crisp, estery onset, banana isoamylacetate but not very strongly so, green apple acetaldehyde too, vague notion of unripe peach, sweetish and sourish but both restrained, with the latter being highlighted by a high, yet somewhat coarse effervescence. Mouthfeel is thinner than the sharpish carbonation would lead one to suspect, with a slick, cereally and soapy body, only very thinly bready towards the end and relatively neutral; the soapiness of the coriander, along with its unmistakable soft-spicy flavour, fills the nose cavity retronasally, though admittedly I had Belgian wit- and other beers with even more coriander effects. The spoiled cucumber- and rotten bean-like aspects, alas, are there as well, alongside a floral, very subtly zesty hoppiness which establishes a soft, very mildly spicy end bitterness. Spicy phenols, as implicitly announced on the label, do play a part in the finish as well, but not in a very outspoken way. Everything is rather restrained here even for what is apparently intended as a mixture of standard Belgian witbier with classic Belgian saison; feels and tastes very convincingly Belgian indeed, as if coming from whatever new 'bierfirma' or microbrewery presenting their very first, simple, coriandered blonde. I admit that if tasted blind, I would readily have placed this in Belgium and not at all in Tennessee or the U.S. in general, so if this was the intenion, well done... From a technical point of view though, this is not such a great success, with the carbon dioxide rather insufficiently 'bound' within the beer, off-putting withering vegetable aromas and even a brief whiff of E. coli infection, though fortunately this remains but a very volatile aspect. If this were Belgian, I would have scored it below 3/5, which to me personally is the boundary of being enjoyable or not; I see no reason to treat an American craft brew any different, even if their intention to create something thoroughly Belgian in all aspects, is successful in this case. I expected a lot more from a brewery which is not all bad at sour ales and the "mixed fermentation" mention on the label convinced me to buy this - should probably have opted for another one, as there is no trace of mixed fermentation here, unless you would consider a suspicion of undesirable (and unintended) bacterial infection 'mixed', of course...

On tap at Gabf. Pours a hazy orange with medium white head leaving spotty lacing. The aroma is floral, citrus, wheat, yeast. Thin body, citrus, wheat, light dry finish, good.

Husky funk nose, savory. Clear yellow, medium head. Slightly tinny, wood, funk, hay, pear. Medium body, harsh.

Tap at Craft Brewed. Pours a clearish gold with a full finger of foam. Nice estery nose. Clove, banana bread, light grass. Soft and fluffy on the palate. Medium sweetness. Not as dry as I like but still a solid saison. Solid drop. --- Beer merged from original tick of Battle Ground on 16 Aug 2017 at 21:13 - Score: 7. Original review text: Nice estery nose. Clove, banana bread, light grass. Soft and fluffy on the palate. Medium sweetness. Not as dry as I like but still solid

12oz bottle. Kind of an odd one. Buttery for a Saison which is really off-putting, not really a Saison. More of a bad Biere de Garde. Or not. Fair enough to call it a Farmhouse Ale, but it lacks any finesse. Could be marketed a lot better, considering it isn’t a Wit or a Saison. Not impressive at all and doesn’t make me eager to try other Mantra beer.

Bottle. Mostly clear yellow with a thin white head. The aroma reminds me of unpicked apples fermenting on the ground.Spicy, grassy, fruity, acidic and funky. The flavor is light fruity sweetness with spice.and yeast. Light, complex easy drinking

Refrigerated 12 oz. brown bottle, from shrubber85, poured into glass. Hazy golden with medium white head. Aroma is yeasty orange, medium body, medium/well carbonated. Taste is yeasty, orange, and some coriander. Marriage of saison and wit, nice.

Draft at the source. Crystal clear golden yellow color, thick white head with good retention and solid lacing, see pic please. Aroma of very light funk and straw. Taste has fruity esters, light citrus. Tasty.