Draught at the brewery, 4/5/14
Wow, gotta say I’ve never really had a dark saison that I’ve loved so I wasn’t going in to this with too high of expectations....
Perfectly brightened dark brown body is topped with a well-retained off-white head.
Brett adds lightly tart acids and soft barrel tannins contribute a woody dryness up front. Nothing sweet about this. Even the fruitiness is restrained, barely yielding any blackberry juiciness to start. And the best part? None of that obnoxious roasted malt. Seems like theyve used only some dark dark caramel malt or debittered black malt. I absolutely hate roastiness in a saison (or any Belgian beer). Anyways, tart acids, soft esters and very classy, easygoing adjuncts. I daresay I’d even be able to pick out that this was grape and blackberry. Certainly no flaws or alcohol.
The flavor just blows it out of the water. At first, I was put off by a fair amount of bourbon flavor and was preparing myself for too much barrel character. But that was the last I tasted of that. Quickly, fruity esters (pear, pineapple, apple) emerge with more soft woody character. Perfect mouthfeel, to a t. Tight carbonation, engaging and producing a lightly creamy, supple texture. Blackberries are fully attenuated, adding only a lightly acidic, slightly astringent note that balances the little, but not underattenuated maltiness remaining. Grape must dosent really play in to the equation, but for adding another layer of complexity, just lightly perceivable. Brett acids build up lightly on the finish and a tartness clears the palate and prepares for each ensuing sip. Drank two glasses and coulda stayed and drank many more.
I’m so impressed how restrained they did the blackberry, grape must and barrel character. This is a statement from these guys. World class stuff and I’m so happy to have these guys near me.

Rerate, draught on 4/10/14
Hmmm, well this is kind of odd/embarassing...I don’t know if my tastes were off or what last time, can’t imagine the beer has changed in 4 days. Whatever the case, this time the big barrel flavor up front never really fades, giving too much whiskey-like heat. The alcohol is pervasive in the flavor and aroma and there’s too much raw glue-like notes from start to finish. I let it warm up a lot hoping it would burn off but no dice. Couldnt find as much brett, not enough to really balance all of this whiskey, wood dryness and alcohol, anyways. Hmmm...I’ve got two bottles, so I’ll see what those are like, I guess. Rating is for recent sample. Previous rating 8/5/8/4/18

And of course, the bottle proves to be incredible. No alcohol in the nose, just a touch of heat on the finish, but barely so. Really nice amount of brett tartness and fruitiness, with appropriate barrel character, a wonderful body and ample but not overdone maltiness. What the hell. Perhaps the bacteria are producing fusels in the draught line, that’s all I can guess. Back to the previous rating...