Draught at Oxbow, Portland, ME, 5/17/15
More or less the same pour as their other saisons and grisettes. Mostly high clarity, though with a touch of haziness appropriate to the style and a small but well-retained white head topping the pale-to-bright golden liquid.
Loretta is a very special beer. Perhaps not if you were exploring the Belgian countryside (though I think it still stands up fine against those). The hops are noble and rustic and all over the place in the nose, conjuring up dry leaves, very light cheese rind, dried herbs and all sorts of early-morning-dew-on-the-lawn-and-flowers-type of aromatics. Rarely have I smelled a beer where the hops give it a funk yet don’t detract otherwise in aroma or flavor (usually any sort of funky hop character is unwanted). Not this one. Light acidity on the end, soft, pils malts and interesting spelt character somewhat reminiscent of Blaugies d’epeautre (though certainly not as disinct or quite as rustic). But anything that can evoke memories of that beer is doing a lot of good things in my book. No alcohol or flaws.
The flavor is delicious as well, perhaps not as crisp on account of some of the earthy and lightly funky flavors, but the acidity on the end gives a mild tartness that does help brighten things, while the attenuation is spot on (very dry) yet the malt comforting and softly succulent. Would love to brew a beer emulating the hops and hop schedule used here (not that I know what it is). Fantastic and as usual, very underappreciated on our Imperial Website.

On tap at Goods from the Woods 2014 with Festero. The spelt gives this a cereal almost cheerios character which worked quite well with the yeasty esters. Light refreshing brew that I quite enjoyed.