#28 - American Saison Tasting

While this beer was intended to be a summer drinker, and most of it disappeared in August, there's still a few hanging around for a tasting.  I will likely use several of the elements of this beer: Wyeast 3724 yeast, ginger and Amarillo hops, in future beers even if not all together again.

A- light cloudy gold, much lighter in color than the picture. A touch darker than the average hefeweizen. The large "belgian" head pops way out of the glass and fades slowly to a small lump with spots of lace.  The beer was poured very slowly as it was a bit over carbonated.

S- tropical fruit (papaya and mango), citrus (lemongrass, lemon) and spice (black pepper) aromas. The ginger is noticeable also but seems to blend well with the other characters to the point it's hard to pick out what is from the yeast/ginger/hops.

T- up front the flavor mirrors the aroma with increased lemongrass and ginger character. On the backed is a mild bite which seems to be both a combination of moderate bitterness and carbonation.

M- medium in body with extremely high carbonation.  I definitely won't be buying the carbonation caps again and will just aim for lower levels by adding less sugar.

O- a nice summery beer but I'd like to see some of the components on their own and with less carbonation. All in all it comes off similar to Boulevard's Tank 7 though I wouldn't call it a clone. A good beer that makes me want to make another saison soon.

#21b - Blackberry Brett Beer tasting

I finally got around to doing a tasting of the half batch of my brett beer with blackberries added.  For my first all brett beer this one turned out decent if a bit underwhelming.

A- beautifully clear pink tinged amber with a very small but sticky white head.

S- the fruity Brett arrives with strawberry and a bit of barnyard and the fruit arrives with berry and earthy aromas which is just a bit lemon and yogurt tinged.  The beer turns to more fruit as it warms.

T- fruity and tart berry swirls around the mouth, with just a bit of earth and funk. Very tame compared to the nose, with a sweet/sour blackberry flavor dominating but not overpowering. The slightest bit of funk shows up in the finish.

M- dry with medium to low carbonation. This is right where I wanted it to turn out and allows the beer to play in the mouth a bit like a wine or straight lambic.

O- a bit vinous in quality with nice berry flavors. The sourness is high enough that I could see this passing as a Flanders red despite the lack of bacteria. On one hand I'm very happy with this beer but on the other it doesn't draw me back for seconds the way some of my best have; perhaps I just don't want more than one sour/funky beer in a sitting. A good beer overall and I look forward to reusing this yeast.