Tasting Notes: Blaugies: Hill Farmstead: La Vermontoise

Blaugies: Hill Farmstead: La Vermontoise (Belgium: Saison: 6% ABV)

Visual: Very cloudy lemon juice colour. Thin, white, small bubbled head.

Nose: Brown bread. Lightly peppery. Naan bread. Mineral water. Light lime hard sweets and choc lime sweets.

Body: Lemon sherbet. Sherbety mouthfeel. Mineral water. Brown bread. Slightly peppery. Light salt. Apricot. Slight watered down golden syrup notes.

Finish: Lime. Mineral water. Lemon sherbet. Unleavened bread. Golden syrup cake.

Conclusion: This, my first encounter with Hill Farmstead (admittedly in a collaboration) is more restrained than I expected from the immense reputation. Not to say bad as it is not that, but as a Saison this actually reminds me more instead of the Westmalle Extra I tried not so long ago. However, unlike that which did not 100% land for me, this actually seems no pull off that minerally meets hoppy style in a very sessionable flavour. Though this has about 1% extra abv which probably helped contribute to it having more room to pull that flavour off.

This has that same bready, mineral water styling for ease of drinking, with especially the bready aroma just spilling out of the glass. The minerally notes are very refreshing and easy drinking, what Westmalle Extra was described as having but here it feels like they have made the beer robust enough for it to work without feeling too light. Unfortunately, the abv that probably is what let them pull this off also means that it is just a tad too strong abv for the super sessionable flavour it has – if it managed this at 4% abv it would have been a session beer classic!

This offsets that main character, or more correctly works with it, by mixing in light citrus notes – lemon and lime, which combine with the mineral water character to make a very lemon sherbet influenced mouthfeel and even some of the flavour, making this a refreshing beer in a lot of ways.

It isn’t a beer that jumps out and grabs you to force you to pay attention but it is one you definitely want more of by the time you have finished it. Everything about it, from the light minerally character, the soft lemon and lime and slight sherbety mouthfeel all match that easy of drinking style – far easier than a 6% abv beer should be to drink. I could drink this over and over for far too long.

So, a dangerously easy drinking summer refresher saison.

Background: Hill Farmstead. Now that is a name I hear a lot from USA way, usually attached to raving about beer quality. That never turn up here. However it turns out they did do this collab with Belgian brewers Blaugies, so when I saw it I figured, closest I’m likely to get to trying a Hill Farmstead beer. Unfortunately I was in London about to go into a wrestling show where they would take any drinks I had off me so I couldn’t buy it. However, luckily I was back in London shortly after to see Le Tigre play live, so dropped back to Caps and Taps where I had seen it and grabbed it and a couple more beers. They have a very nice selection there and even a few taps to enjoy while you are there. Went with Le Tigre: Feminists Sweepstakes as background music when drinking in honour of the circumstances that led to me being able to grab it.

Tasting Notes: Broaden and Build: Tired Hands: Awamori – Koji Saison

Broaden and Build: Tired Hands: Awamori – Koji Saison (Denmark: Saison: 5.5% ABV)

Visual: Pale lemon juice colour with small bubbled carbonation to the mostly clear body. Massive white mounded head that leaves suds.

Nose: Jiff lemon. Slight lactic notes. Peppery. Coriander. Slightly sour but milky. Lightly earthy. Bread dough.

Body: Coriander. Lightly earthy. Light tart kiwi. Peppery. Tart grapes. Lactic notes. Cut apples. Tannins and dry teabags.

Finish: Kiwi fruit. Earthy. Coriander. Cut apples. Dry teabags. Peppery. Light vanilla. Light apricot.

Conclusion: This is completely on the other side of the saison style from my usual preferred take – that being the more clean hopped takes by brewers such as Fantome and Dupont. However with that said, this is really good.

The beer is heavily leaning towards the earthy, peppery and spicy take on a saison at its base, this is very much on the robust side of the possible takes, but it doesn’t end there.

There are fresher lemon and fresh cut apple notes that brighten into tarter sour grape notes. Kind of lactic, lightly acidic, sour notes, kind of lactose touched. It results in something that is umami, tart yet slightly savoury, all odd yet mouth filling notes. It is very different, keeping the earthiness from becoming wearing and resulting in a beer that can very much stand on its own two metaphorical feet.

Beyond that there is a kind of Steam Beer, or Saison De Pipaix, oddly gassy texture as well. Not carbonation, just a slightly odd feel, something unusual again in an already strange beer.

Very non standard, mixing earthy, fruity and a mix of odd notes together easily. Not one to have a lot of – the earthiness is balanced well over a single can, but feels like a one and done beer rather than one to session – but lovely to have for one.

A great twist on a familiar style and a very good beer.

Background: Ok, this is a koji saison, so, what the fuck is Koji?
https://www.clearspring.co.uk/blogs/news/8024723-koji-the-culture-behind-japanese-food-production

Ok, well now I know, I guess. Thank you google. This is the second time I have tried this. First time I was just having general drinking and was very impressed so grabbed another can for doing notes on. Don’t know much about either of the two collaborators on this one, so can’t say too much there. This was grabbed from Independent Spirit, and I went with Miracle of Sound – Metal Up! For some melodic but thrashy metal tunes. Miracle of Sound is insanely talented, so always a good one to go back to.

Tasting Notes: Omnipollo: Prairie: Potlatch

Omnipollo: Prairie: Potlatch (Sweden: Saison: 7% ABV)

Visual: Pale lemon juice colour. Utterly massive mounded white bubbled head that leaves lace.

Nose: Funky. Cannabis touch. Fresh dough. Sulphur. Crusty white bread.

Body: Peppery and lightly earthy. Oats. Slight lime. Milky. Muesli. Funky yeast character. Slight lime and gherkin.

Finish: Oats. Earthy bitterness. Sulphur. Peppery. Turmeric. Solid bitterness. Raisins. Muesli.

Conclusion: This feels like an old school, earthy, very rustic take on the saison. Now a quick google tells me that they used mosaic hops for this, which shocked the heck out of me, as this really doesn’t taste like it has those new fruity hop flavours in it. Everything comes across yeast funk, earthy character and grounding spice instead.

The aroma is fairly funky and kind of sulphurous, it isn’t as heavily present in the body but there is still some of that yeast funk going on, just in a more muted way. So, I enjoy a bit of wild yeast funk, and this is solidly funky, but I have to admit, apart from that I am finding it hard to get excited about this one.

Now, as time goes on more does come out, though still in the more earthy and rustic vein – there are also subtle raisin notes, which combine nicely with the milky and oat notes to give the impression of a funky , earthy, bitter saison bowl of muesli. Which is now a thing I guess.

A lot of the character seems to be in that funky feel, with the sulphur working itself in around the edges to give distinctive mouthfeel and flavour. It is hard to pin down, kind of steam beer like in mouthfeel I guess, but definitely there.

A solid saison but doesn’t do anything to displace Dupont or Fantome from the top of the saison mountain for me.

Background: This was recommended to me by the kind people of Independent Spirit – I took a look and Omnipollo are generally fun and weird , Prairie tend to make good saisons, and this is made with the excellent mosaic hop so I decided to give it a go. Apparently there are two version, a yellow wrapped one which is made in the USA, and this, the green wrapped version made in the EU. I put on Shadow’s Fall – Fallout From The War while drinking. Not their best album but still some solid metal tunes.

Tasting Notes: Burning Sky: Saison Houblon

Burning Sky: Saison Houblon (England: Saison: 4.5% ABV)

Visual: Yellow to lemon juice. Large mounded bubbled white head with brown clumps.

Nose: Banana custard. Wheaty. White pepper. Mild grapefruit. Moderate cake sponge hop character. Orange zest. Slight sour dough. Apple.

Body: Slight tart grapefruit. White pepper. Tart grapes. Slight sour dough. Fresh cut apple. Earthy middle. Coriander.

Finish: Wheaty bitterness. Tart grapefruit. Peppery. White pepper. Coriander. Muesli and dried raisins.

Conclusion: This is nice, but boy the aroma promised something with far more subtlety and range. It makes the decent body that you actually get feel slightly disappointing on comparison. Ah well, let’s look at what we actually get then.

The body is fairly rustic style saison – peppery, solid earthy saison style but made fresh with gentle tart grapefruit hops so the body refreshes you before pushing out into a solidly bitter and peppery once again finish.

Refreshing, but yet earthy and grounded. A solid beer and one at not too high abv. The thing is, the aroma has so much more range to it – much more in the tart fruits and hints of a sweeter malt touch that calls to the classic that is Saison Dupont. If those notes had carried through into the body then this could have been similarly a classic beer.

Ah well, let’s look at what it is, not what it could have been. It fits bright hop character well into the base earthy saison without compromising either. A fairly solid twist on the saison, not a classic – it needs a few more layers for that – but it is solidly drinkable with solid hop bitterness.

Could do a lot worse for a saison, give it a go if you are in the mood for something refreshing but with weight.

Background: So, houblon just means hop in French. So this is a hoppy saison. Simple. Burning Sky really haven’t got the attention they deserve from me, may have to make an effort to reverse that. This is step one in trying anyway. Not much else to add – I wanted something comparatively easy drinking, with a not too high abv, so I hoped a saison would do the job when I broke it open for the night. Another one grabbed from Independent Spirit. I returned to IDLES – Joy As An Act Of Resistance to listen to while drinking. Still amazing mix of anger and sensitivity. I still should pick up some of their other albums to see if they are all this good.

Tasting Notes: Pilot: Buzz

Pilot: Buzz (Scotland: Saison: 11.4% ABV)

Visual: Pale hazy lemon juice colour. Lots of small bubbled carbonation and a small, white, bubbled head.

Nose: Dry mead. White wine. Dry honey. Pear drops. Grapes.

Body: Honey. Custard. Grapes. Peppery. Earthy notes. Pear cider. Light menthol.

Finish: Lightly earthy. Oats. Light honey. Grapes. Champagne. Wheat. Peppery. Muesli. Light peppermint. Raisins.

Conclusion: Ok, going in I wasn’t sure what this would show from its influences. Would it show the mead? The saison? Wine like character as this was described as an aim on the bottle? Turns out the decided to go with all of the above.

First impressions are very mead like, though rapidly become even more like the pure base honey than most meads, feeling and tasting of every element that makes up a thick, rich honey. This is backed by a custard sweetness to the body that makes for a smoother element than the thick honey. However here the base saison style seems miles away – lost below this sweet and heavy creation that you have here.

The wine like notes come next; A while wine dry aroma seeping into juicy grape notes in the main body before leading out with a slightly funky champagne style finish. The juicy, yet still matched by dryness acts as a much needed rounding to take the edge off the very honey sweet style that came up front.

The saison element is the last to show and the lightest. The oat and muesli cereal notes come out to add some wight, then there’s some light peppery and earthy notes that act more as a grounding than as a main character. Late on you get some darker fruit, raisin like notes which I have no idea where they came from, but again they add something to the otherwise very sweet beer. So, while I am enjoying this I must say don’t buy this if it is the saison side of things that attract you to it. There is a lot to recommend it but it, but not that side of things.

It feels mainly like mead meets white wine, sparkling like champagne. Also, this is definitely one to share – I made the mistake of soloing this and, delicious though it is, it kicked the shit out of me.

So, this is complex enough to be worthwhile, if not pushing the boundaries of how much range a beer can have. It instead wears its special ingredients on its sleeve, but adds enough that it doesn’t feel like it is using it as a crutch. So, a very good, very sweet mead/wine/beer thing. It isn’t one to have too often, it is too overpowering for that, but if you are a mead fan then this has enough mead style to be your thing, while enough beer to make it stand out. Definitely a worthwhile experiment.

Background: Another one from Independent Spirit, this is an imperial saison that is described as ”one of a series of experimental sharing beers designed to be treated like sparkling wines.” This particular one is made with woodland honey, which , as a mead fan caught my eye. I was silly enough to drink the entire bottle myself. It was very potent. Very, very potent. I’m not doing that again. Continued my attempt to put on albums I’d not heard for a while while drinking – Faithless: Sunday 8PM, though I will admit I prefer the very different single version of “God is a DJ” to the album version. Both are good though.

Tasting Notes: Wild Beer Co: To Øl: TrØffeler

Wild Beer Co: To Øl: TrØffeler (England: Saison: 5.5% ABV)

Visual: Hazy lemon juice. Large white head.

Nose: Chestnut mushrooms. Ground pepper. Quite fresh. Fresh sour dough. White pepper. White wine. Sulphur.

Body: Dry. White pepper. Dry lemon juice. Earthy bitterness. Dried mushrooms. Spritzy to soda water.

Finish: Spritzy. Soda water. Chalk touch. Peppery. White wine. Sage. Dried meat chunks. Coriander.

Conclusion: This is very spritzy, very peppery, mixed with some earthiness and spice over white wine dryness. That last element is especially odd as this has been aged in sweet Sauternes wine casks so you would expect something sweeter, but hey, I can only call ’em as I see ’em.

The body is softly lemony, which is probably the most normal element going on here. When that lemon is combined with the spice it feels like it calls to a more traditional take on a Belgian wit, but with a heavier, earthy saison edge to it.

I’m finding it hard to say exactly what the truffles bring here – there is a chestnut mushroom like note, a general set of savoury notes mid body, but nothing that stands out as massively unexpected, nothing that says unusual ingredient rather than beer hop character. Then again, my knowledge of truffles is entirely from truffle oil. So, for all I know this could be super truffly and I am just ignorant. I hear truffles are quite earthy, so maaaaybe that is them?

Anyway, this is easy drinking early on, and very earthy and spicy late on. In fact a bit too much spice for me. Reined in at the end this would be super drinkable and an awesome mix of wit and saison notes. As is it starts out good but feels a tad rough by the end.

So, not too stand out, but has promise for tweaking with.

Background: So, I am a huge fan of To Øl, they are very talented and turn out amazing beers. I am also a fan of Wild Beer co – they can be variable, but when they are on they are on. However the reason I bought this is not because of either of those. It is because it is made with truffles. I mean, WTF right? Terrible or great that was something I wanted to try. To be more specific this is made with truffles, sage and aged in Sauternes barrels. Saw that Crossfaith are coming back to Bristol later this year so put on a mix of their tunes while drinking. This was another one bought from Independent Spirit.

Tasting Notes: Left Handed Giant: Heretic: Monuments

Left Handed Giant: Heretic: Monuments (England: Saison: 8% ABV)

Visual: Pale lemon yellow with a gold hint. Large white mound of a head.

Nose: Raspberry. Wheaty. Light cloves. Light dried banana. Flour. Soft bitter red wine.

Body: Pomegranate. Cherry picked digestives. Wheaty. Peppery. Light lemon. Slight sour red wine. Apircot. Funk. Raisins. Plums. Moderate, earthy, low level bitterness.

Finish: Rum. Pomegranate. Raisins. Turmeric. Dry red wine. Dry plum notes. Milk. Port notes. Lightly earthy with a yeast funk.

Conclusion: I’ve had to take quite a while with this one, as it isn’t a beer that instantly jumps up and punches you in the face with what it is all about.

It is a gentle rustic style saison rather than the highly hopped take on the style – slightly milky, oaty mix with the rustic and wheaty notes that makes a soothing background that the pomegranate notes can come out from in a natural feeling and not too heavy way.

There is an earthy bitterness that becomes, well, present over time if not overly evident. The barrel ageing starts off light in raisin and plum backing notes, but becomes fully fledged with sour and bitter red wine notes coming out by the end after flirting with sweeter red wine notes for a moment before. It is never heavy, more a robust body that is a competent part of the beer, but doesn’t feel overly dominant.

It is both blessed and cursed in its balance – it is definitely barrel aged, but not so much as to make you go “wow” but also not to lose the base beer. It is definitely showing its fruit, but I would not call it a fruit beer for better and worse. It has a good rustic base, but the other elements of ageing and fruit mean that you don’t really get to see it at its best.

So, it is balanced, super easy to drink but… also 8% abv at that. At a low abv this would be a fairly awesome beer that you could drink forever. As it is is a master-work of balance that uses that balance to deny itself the large moments that would justify the 8% abv.

So it is very good and very impressive, but can’t quite earn the high abv, nor work as a session beer, so it struggles for a spot in the drinking line up.

Background: This came on my radar for a couple of reasons – one, I dig saisons and they don’t seem to pop up as often as I would like, so new ones tend to catch my eyes. Two, this is made with pomegranate puree, which was unexpected – saisons also seem to be a beer style where people don’t try the odd experimentations as much as some other styles. Finally – burgundy barrel aged, another bit of experimentation that often is overlook with saisons. So I grabbed a bottle from Independent Spirit to give a go. Put on Television Villain again while drinking – so proud of those guys for their awesome music.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Make Earth Great Again

Brewdog: Make Earth Great Again (Scotland: Saison: 7.5% ABV)

Visual: Pale light yellow to grain, very clear. An inch of white froth for a head but still main body.

Nose: Wheaty. Vanilla. Light lemon citrus character. Dried banana. Light cloves. Crusty white bread. Light white chocolate. Cheese puff crisps styled funk.

Body: Bitter. Slight cloying cream character. Cream cheese and chives. Slight chalk and prickly feel mix. Cheese puff crisps. Hop oils. Light lemon. Palma violets. Dried banana.

Finish: Cream cheese and chives. Dried banana. Light yeast funk. Light tart yellow raspberries. Hop oils. Palma violets. Light bitterness. Mature cheese.

Conclusion: This actually reminds me of Wild Beer Co’s bretted lager “Chronos” – it has that mix of lager like easy drinking character with a yeast funk style.

At its base it feels clean, slightly lemony and very lager styled with noble hop feeling hop oils and a light palma violets touch to it. Layered over that clean base is a kind of cheese puff into cream cheese and then mature cheese notes – a real contrast of feel and taste going on here. It opens with the cheese funk first, then lets the lighter lager drinking feel through, rather than the other way around that you might expect.

Now, that funk gives some flavour but there is also a light berry tartness below those heavier funk notes that works as a nice bridge between the lager like notes and the more saison like funk. Good use of hop oils smooth out the remaining rough cracks that may have existed, and a moderate bitterness caps off the finish.

Everything works – it doesn’t declare itself as a must drink – instead concentrating on being very easy to drink, mixing smooth feel and funk. The flavour is gentle but tasty, and the beer feels far too close to a session character for a beer of higher abv. It doesn’t break the world, but once you start drinking it is easy to just keep continuing to drink this in a dangerously drunken way – so it definitely has something for it!

Background: So, Brewdog making a beer to protest USA removing itself from the Paris agreement and gives the profits to a climate change charity – I can get behind that. A few gimmicks to go with that, the saison is made with melted ice cap water and cloudberries which are endangered (A few people have asked if that is a good idea, using endangered berries- I presume using the berries isn’t a prob – it’s the plants environment being in danger that is screwing it – I could be wrong). As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers. This was grabbed from Brewdog’s shop and drunk while listening to the final CD of Mclusky – Mcluskyism. So you will probably hear me mention it less for a while. Great 3 CD set and great value. Proper loving the insane energy it has.

Tasting Notes: Northern Monk: Alefarm: Patron’s Project 7.01: DDH Saison

Northern Monk: Alefarm: Patron’s Project 7.01: DDH Saison (England: Saison: 7.0% ABV)

Visual: Overripe banana coloured, high carbonation, hazy body with an utterly massive yellowed head that leaves lace.

Nose: Peppery. Key lime. Lightly earthy. Wet ropes.

Body: Bitter. Greenery. Peppery. Nettles. Key lime. Peppermint. Oatmeal and light milk. Vanilla toffee. Orange crème.

Finish: Vanilla. Good hop bitterness. Peppery. Slight mint. Hop oils. Mild dill pickle. Milky. Peppermint.

Conclusion: This is very full of greenery, very menthol touched – kind of within its aimed for saison wheelhouse, but also a bit unusual for the style. A good combo if done well, lets look into this.

It has the slightly rustic saison feel as the base – slight earthy and peppery notes. It is far away from the smooth, high hop matched with vanilla style of the quintessential sasion Dupont, heading more towards the heavier style; It does, however still have a slight smooth vanilla base under the other elements -giving slight call to that more recognised saison style.

That is the base then, but far from the full story – what really shows up is the amount of greenery and such notes this plays with. The label on the can wasn’t lying – be it crushed mint leaves, nettles or fresher peppermint this has lots of plant notes added to the earthy base. Very refreshing, very menthol clean along with the very robust hop bitterness. While a rustic styled saison is a very traditional take, this seems to take that idea and push it into a much fresher, more sparkling way that you would expect.

There are even some side notes just rounding it out – light orange and key lime citrus elements – ones that you see used a lot on the new wave of saisons, but here they are not up front. These new world hop notes are an addition to the base, not overwhelming it.

In fact, I have ranted recently about masses of hops being used to overpower interesting styles – this feels like a good example of the opposite – where matching craft style hopping to a traditional saison style manages to enhance both sides. Very distinct, its levels of greenery are not for everyone, but well worth checking out if that style doesn’t put you off.

Background: I had to check what was in this brew – the amount of leaves on the can made me think it was a cannabis beer. Which is totally a thing, but not a thing that I think is legal to see in the UK. Anyway, turns out it is not a cannabis beer, just a saison style beer made with Citra, Mosaic and Galaxy hops. Good combo. It is made in association with Alefarm brewing, brewers from Denmark. This was grabbed from independent spirit and drunk while listening to some Mobina Galore – got into the band when they opened for Against Me! And they were darn cool.

Tasting Notes: Fantome: Vertignasse

Fantome: Vertignasse (Belgium: Saison: 4.5% ABV)

Visual: Bright green. Massive green to white bubbled head.

Nose: Minty. Wheaty. Lamb stew. Lime. Coriander.

Body: Lime. Sage. Wheaty. Moderate bitterness. Peppery. Minty. Peppermint and mint leaves.

Finish: Lime jelly. Moderate bitterness. Wheaty. Malt drinks. Greenery. Peppery. Mint.

Conclusion: This is the, I think, 2nd green Fantome beer I have had. I think. It’s not something you expected to see more than one per brewery of at the most. Anyway, considering that there is strong suspicion that woodruff is used to make this green, that could explain that flavour that I am having a very hard time pinning down. I have never tried woodruff in anything except a Chorlton beer which a) similarly confused me and b) wasn’t green. So, anyway, could taste like woodruff for all I know, I’m doing my best here.

What seems to come out of the beer is a mix of lime and herbal sage notes over the usual peppery, high quality saison from Fantome. The result is good, but seems slightly less than the sum of its parts. The base seems to lead towards their awesome Spring Saison but the … you know what, right or wrong I’m going to call it woodruff for now just so I have a word for it rather than just saying “green thingy influence” … the woodruff influence does overpower a lot of the lighter subtle notes that made that beer so awesome.

Now, it’s still good – but also more one note, or really more two note with the strong lime and sage like notes. There is an impressive, slow building, bitterness backing it, but again this is matched by the fact it overpowers the lighter notes.

So, fairly decent – though another one I would say to share – despite the lower abv the flavours can get wearing if you solo this beer raid (If you forgive the video game reference). There is a cloying note and a minty character that raises up, adding complexity, but it still becomes heavy going over 750ml.

So, good, kind of one note – I would say to go with some of Fantome’s other excellent beers over this merely ok but not great one. The curse of having such a great line up is that only ok ones like this seem weak by comparison.

Background: Another beer with style disagreement online- depending on where you look it is described as a wit or a saison. Frankly, considering whatever was added to it to make it green, it isn’t close to any style really – but I have leant towards saison based on my experiences. I don’t think official word has been given on what makes it green, but a few people have guessed woodruff, which seems a fair call. I adore Fantome saisons, they rate from ok to bloody excellent, and from just excellent takes on a standard saison, to weird mad experiments. All good. This one was grabbed at Independent Spirit and drunk while listening to some Rhapsody – great fantasy, storytelling metal. This was drunk the night before heading up north to go watch NXT wrestling – so I knew good times were ahead.