Tap at Popeye. Surprised I have never rated this. Pale blond, small off-white head. Aroma is a bit weak, lightly fruity and bit grainy. Taste is nice. Hints of tropical fruit, quite dry. Slightly floral too. Herbal crispness. Pretty damn good. Very refreshing after an imperial stout.

23rd September 2017
Borefts IX, Day 2. Keg. Hazy gold beer, good white head. Palate is light, dry and has good fine carbonation. Thin malts, sweetish. Complex floral start, elderflower obvious, loads of white flowers and the like. Underneath is bitterish tangerine and orange. Dry finish. Bitter floral linger.

Bottle from Takumi, Kuala Lumpur. Poured a crystal clear straw colour with a thin broken white head. The aroma is malt, with some dry fruity hop notes. The flavour is moderate bitter with a dry, mineral, light spicy, fruit hop bitter palate. Medium bodied with average carbonation.

33cl bottle courtesy of and shared with JMGreenUK. Thin white head. Very hazy blond pour. Very refreshing.

Poured into a tulip taster showing cloudy light yellow but lightly filtered with sparse white foam around the edges. The nose shows light Belgian sweet yeast with light notes of malt. The palate is full bodied with light carbonation. Surprisingly very little Belgian yeast influence, mostly a barely perceivable maltiness that runs through the background without being sweet. A very light pilsner light bitterness at the finish.

4 oz pour on draft at ChurchKey during the Baird/Shiga Kogen Tap Takeover. Hazy yellow with thin off-white head. Aromas of herbs, citrus, biscuit. Tastes of citrus, light floral notes, biscuit. Medium-light body with a dry finish.

Easy drinking and smooth. Some hay and some citrus. Pours hazy yellow with OK head. Light bitter finish with some tang. Tap at Churchkey.

Bottle from Dogenzaka Shinanoya. Pours nice golden, very little foam and even this is gone is seconds. Aroma is surprisingly malt-forward, nothing much seems to be going on, just some bready notes and you can feel saison’s spiciness only when you try hard. Taste is nicely hoppy, quite bitter actually. Has some saison-like character but not much of it. Malt base comes to the forefront at the end and contributes to stronger body. Overall, not a bad beer far from that - but not really saison. Or if this is saison, then quite a quirky one. I do like quirky beers.

Re-rate: On tap at CBM Koenji. Hazy straw color again with a small white head. Slight barnyard aromas this time with a hint of grain and citrus. Slight Lemon and white grapefruit taste on the palate. As it warms up more of the lemon and pith taste comes out as well as a bit of funkiness. Still not as good as the Indian Summer Saison, but the draught version was much improved for me. Old rating: 330ml bottle from Shinanoya. Poured into a tulip. Slightly cloudy straw yellow color with a small head that dissipates rather quickly. Mostly grainy aroma with only a slight hint of yeast. Grainy taste almost like a lager. Not getting any fruit at all. Not really a saison more of a yeasted up lager. Some of the yeast comes through as it warms up. Dry on the palate with a little bit of vegetable and pepper. Pretty one dimensional and bland for what I’ve come to expect from Shiga Kogen. --- Beer merged from original tick of Miyama Blonde on 30 Mar 2015 at 15:28 - Score: 5

Harvest Brew fresh hop version 7% saison on tap at Bungalow. It pours a light gold with a solid eggshell white head. It has a big fruity hop bouquet with a mild saison character.  Fairly light bodied with a spritzy mouthfeel. The taste is grassy, green, a bit metallic, a bit of anise and saison spice. Pretty nice but not super saison like.