4.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5

Draught at Ginger Man Boston, 6/21/17.
Rich copper-amber body is topped by a beige head of low retention. High clarity.
It’s not a banana/bubble gum-bomb, but it’s also severely lacking in anything particularly interesting. Some nutty, bready, earthy malt notes give way to peach and light pineapple, as clove asserts itself towards the finish. Malts get a bit "big" with warming/breathing and honey and caramel begin to interrupt the yeast character. Clean, though, and not boozy.
Sweet, caramel-laden malts indicate they are going to be a problem right away, and the clovey, bready, slightly sourish (not bacterial sour) notes of the phenol plus specialty malt quickly go to work on fatiguing the palate. Thick, rich and with nothing particularly enjoyable in the ester department; mostly peach with an afterthought of apple. Strong nuttiness on the end with lingering clove and low (too low), somewhat unfocused carbonation that exacerbates the already overly sweet, malty character of this "saison".