Bottle 4396 from 9/28/2011 thanks to my girlfriend. Pours with a hazy golden hued body with a large, just barely off-white head. Good lace and retention. Aromas are grassy and herbal with immediate dry hop character. Biscuity, bready and lightly caramel malt character. Yeast character is a touch funky, banana esters. Mild grape tannin and over ripe plum. Juicy and bright citrus zest. Flavors show a bit of a husky, tannic, astringent malt character (tannic extraction). A bit sharp, bright citrus, tannin, plum, bubble gum and banana esters. Medium to light bitterness. Grassy. Medium phenols. Not much plum character to be honest. Lively bubbles, dry, tannic in the finish. Light bodied. The least flawed beer that I have yet to see come out of the Hermitage operation.

Like the last Almanac beer, the fruit flavors are integrated into the background. Sadly, this beer isn’t as good (at least for me) as the Summer 2011 release.

Bottle from the Arden BevMo in Sacramento, CA. Pours hazy orange gold with a 3 finger foamy off-white head. Aromas of belgian yeast spice and non-light fruit. Head is in the way. Med plus body. Frothy carb. The flavor is quite strong in terms of fruit - suggesting plums that are not fully ripe. Or maybe that’s plum skin. Though with time the unripeness seems to mellow, allowing some wheat aspects to come out. Then there’s something like lightly sucking on a plum pit. So it’s really quite dry, and seems more bitter than 29 IBU. And the yeast is ever present. Finally there’s a rising earthiness. Probably there all the time, but took me a while to get it? A really good saison.

Sour and tart aromas with blackberry somewhat restrained. Hazy brushed gold with full concentrated white head. Blackberry and sour, mouthfeel is medium with puckering. Tangy and tart on the late palate. Fruit also comes in again very late.

Draft. Amber beer with a whitish head. Malt and spice aroma. Spice and malt flavor with earth, light esters, and light plastic. Medium bodied. Spice and fruity esters linger with malt and light plastic.

Bottle 2251, 5/29/2011, received with thanks from Marcus. Pours hazy orange gold with a transient white head. Aroma starts nearly citrus but shifts to light berry. Med body. Flavor is barnyard to me. Followed by some light fruit that could be berry - but it’s a little vinous, so I don’t think I’d have come up with blackberry on my own. A bit oaky. I think it’s trying to be sweet, but not succeeding. Astringent. I’d put this one as an excellent farmhouse or saison. Sour and earthy. Well not all that sour, but much more than sweet!

I tried the sour version on tap at Shotwell’s - not sure if it’s barrel #9. A definite improvement over the normal version but it still seemed a bit muddled. More berry flavor, and it’s nice and jammy, unlike the normal. Pretty good sour notes. Less citrus. Some good musty aroma. Still a bit too much tannic neutral oak flavor. Appearance is a cloudy strawberry color with no head. Good stuff.

I think I’ll like this beer after more time in the bottle, but it’s a bit muddled for me, at this point. Some berries in the nose but not enough. There’s also a light caramel flavor with some pleasant citric bitterness. It’s a bit over-tannic for my taste. I’m getting a lot more straight oak than wine from the barrel. Kinda musty in an interesting way. Appearance is a dusky orange color. I’ll be interested to see how it develops.

@Victors Fantasy Tasting-750 bottle-thanks maxxdaddy-pours an off white head with trailing lace and cloudy straw/yellow color. Aroma is tart light malt, acidic, spice/wood, some fruit. Taste is tart light malt, acidic, spice/wood, yeast, some fruit. Drying finish.

Draft. Amber beer with an off-white head. Blackberry and yeast aroma with light spice. Blackberry and yeast flavor with spice and malt. Medium bodied. Blackberry and spice linger with yeast and malt.