LSAT Freedom Trip #119. Keg at the brewery. Hazy orange, large creamy tan head, good retention. Aroma of grapefruit zest, tropical fruit, lime, caramel and grainy malt. The taste is tropical fruits, nuts, caramel, grapefruit. Medium bodied, dry lingering bitterness, juicy.

LSAT Freedom Trip #118. Keg at the brewery. Clear bright golden, large foamy white head, good retention. Aroma of citrus, tropical fruits, pale malt. The taste is grapefruit, tropical fruit, pale malt, pepper. Medium bodied, juicy, mild lingering bitterness.

LSAT Freedom Trip #117. Keg at the brewery. Hazy orange, large foamy tan head, good retention. Aroma of citrus, pale bready malt, nuts, spice. The taste is citrus, tropical fruits, pale malt, yeast, spice. Medium bodied, crisp, dry.

LSAT Freedom Trip #32. Tallboy can shared by my friend Eric! Clear copper, large creamy tan head, good retention. Aroma of caramel, apples, lemon. The taste is caramel, apples, tea, lemon and a faint vegetal note that is almost verging on something worse. Drink these quickly if you have them! Medium bodied,

Tap at Kings Arms, Portland. It pours cloudy deep orange with a thick yellow - white house. The nose is fresh, sticky, juicy, resinous, grassy, stewed orange, peach, dirty nectarine and sherbet. The taste is bitter, sticky, juicy, dank, toasty grass, grapefruit, burnt orange, touch of sherbet and some decent alcohol boost with a bitter - dry finish. Medium body and moderate, prickly carbonation. A bit boosty, but very alright anyhow.

Refrigerated 16 oz. aluminum can poured into a glass. Beautiful bright hazy golden with small. Aroma is sharp grapefruit, medium/light body, medium carbonation, and little lacing. Taste is grapefruit, yeast, some grassy hops, some pine, a little peach, and dry finish. Good saison.

Fresh 2015 can, drunk 6/23/15
This beer pretty much epitomizes the "How closely do I rate to-style?" dilemna. Reason being, it’s a fantastic pale ale. There’s an afterthought of Belgian character (very light Belgian esters) but I think it would be a stretch even to call this thing a hoppy Belgian ale. Perhaps that’s just because it’s so hop-forward and being so low gravity, the yeast nuances aren’t exactly bursting through the seams. Maybe if you aged this thing six months, and the hops died down, more Belgian character would emerge? I don’t know. I do know that the tropical fruit and light bread/honey malts are done wonderfully in both aroma and flavor. Soft, but tight carbonation and no huskiness/yeast blandness/astringency create a comforting texture and the beer is dry, yet not too much so.
It’s an interesting question: Do I rate this poorly because it is very un-saison-like though knowing that I’m rating an otherwise great beer poorly? I think most would be quick to eschew style-guidelines and rate a great beer appropriately. But what if this were marketed as a German Helles? What if a beer marketed as a Belgian Trippel tasted more like an American Double IPA (yet a delicous one)? No easy answer, as I do feel there is some value in keeping brewers accountable to some degree. It just so happens that I love hoppy, non-resinous, light APAs, so I was pleasantly surprised with this. But what if the purchaser dosen’t like American Pale Ales and was buying this because they really wanted a Belgian saison? They’d be disappointed to find very little saison quality to the "saison" they just purchased. Always good to think about these things....