750mL bottled November 2014, drunk 6/3/16 with Nelson.
Dark mahogany with some milk chocolate hues and a strong clarity. Light beige head atop is small and shows moderate to moderately strong retention.
Hazelnut, milk chocolate, prune and berry notes and a touch of honey-vanilla show a nice interplay of base malt, dark malt and light souring agents. It smells quite similar to CD16, though much less bacterial/woody, obviously. It’s very mellow and there’s no heavy roastiness to it that often ruins this "style". No alcohol or flaw, plenty of charm to the house character with good minerality.
Honey and chocolate show a nice marriage of roasted barley and pale malt with little/no roast character and only a lovely chocolate character remaining that mixes with the mild lactic notes to produce a milk chocolate flavor. Very light bread adds some structure and there’s more of the tartness found in their farmhouse ales that perfectly balances the sweetness. Soft, creamy texture with tight carbonation and no alcohol or flaw. I swear if you closed your eyes and tasted this blind, you almost wouldn’t guess it was terribly dark. Which is great because I usually find too much overbearing dark malt/barley character in dark saisons, which interrupts the delicate nature of the beer. Not here. One of the best, if not the best, in style.