Smuttlabs Trucco
Smuttynose Brewing Company

A: Pours a reddish-brown color with 2 fingers of head that fades down to a thin cap

S: Belgian yeast, Bretty funk, whiskey sweetness, caramel, and light fruitiness

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with the Bretty funk, spicy and fruity Belgian yeast, and a bit of caramel sweetness. Picks up the whiskey and some oak and vanilla notes. Warming alcohol. Some tannins in there as well. Finishes with lingering Brett notes and some whiskey and caramel sweetness

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. A little on the effervescent side

O: A very interesting and unique saison. The Brett gives it a nice little funk and added barnyard while the whiskey barrels add a whole other dimension. Nice to sip on and enjoy

 

 

Poured from a bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Nearly clear golden brown pour. Thin white head... falls fast with a light rim of lacing.

S: Funk and barnyard... spent grains, tart and lemony, with oak/barrel notes.

T/F: Funk... citrus/light lemon... green apple skins, light pear, and grape must. Oak and vanilla... white wine cork. Medium in body... becomes more complex and flavorful as it warms. A bit of whiskey/booze in the aftertaste.

O: A pretty odd beer, and strangely delicious. I really enjoyed this one... tart without being sour with lots of fruit/funk character. Great effort, and the whiskey barrel really works well.

Purchased for $10 at the brewery. This beer poured a slightly hazy golden color with a compact frothy white head. Dark for the style.

The smell is not strong, but it is enticing. Woody, a promise of tartness, whiskey, citrus in the form of lemon, faint notes of apple and a honey-like sweetness that coud be vanilla.

The taste is very nice. The brett comes to the fore with a nice level of tartness balanced by a sweet touch that I still think is honey. The barrel is not shy, with the whiskey flavor showing off well. There is lemon and an apple cider flavor floating along for the ride and this certainly reads wild ale to me in the flavor. The alcohol gives a bit of heat on the finish. Malt s clean, but decidedly in the back seat.

While it clocks in at 10%, I find this beer quite bright and refreshing. Carbonation within reason for a wild ale, but a little light for a saison.

This is pretty good, but there seems to be a bit of an identity crisis going on. Ample evidence of the barrel and a nice whisk(e)y flavor aided and abetted by a decent level of brett and just that little bit of cider vinegar sour. It is quite bright, and it grew on me during the drinking. Not sure it is a ten buck bottle, maybe more in the six or seven dollar range, but a nice brew overall...a tame wild ale!

This saison pours a very slightly cloudy burnt orange color, significantly darker than a normal saison, which is almost certainly due to the whiskey barrel aging that this beer gets. The head is pretty small, white, and frothy. If there are whiskey elements in the scent then they blend in quite well. The scent is pretty complex, but overall I would classify it as tart with elements akin to some wines or a sour beer, more than whiskey-like, hallmarks of the Brettanomyces. From the scent though the Brett doesn’t seem overdone and I find the scent fairly appealing. The taste, however, is a different story. The Brett is strong in this one. The flavor is a pretty funky tart, fruity, and dry and reminiscent of a white wine that has gone a bit off. There are elements of lemon, apple, cherry, and a bit of sweet honey with a dry punch of alcohol at the finish. Despite this it paradoxically seems kind of refreshing. It seems to have more in common with a wild ale than a saison to me. The body is medium, pretty average for a saison. I can imagine lovers of Brett being real into this, but I am not typically a big Brett fan myself. I was hoping that the whiskey barrel aging would have a balancing effect on the Brett and would give the flavor some more of the elements typically associated with whiskey barrel aging, but I really don’t notice this happening much. Interesting, but I wish they kept it for longer in the barrels.

Purchased at Hayseed in Hampton yesterday. Color is deep yellow, almost orange. No head. Moderate carbonation. Smell is lemon, funk, alcohol and hint of whiskey. Taste is similar to to smell, whiskey finish at the back of the tongue. I don't know what else to say other than I enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottle from the Brewery
Slightly hazy light golden color with a smallish bubbly white head that dissipates quickly. Earthy brett funk on the nose with bits of wood tannin and some light fruity vinous notes as well as faint whiskey and vanilla. The flavor is more funky brett than saison. Big vinous and light balsamic flavors. Light honey maltiness seems to be fading. Lingering woody vanilla bourbon note. Medium body actually seems a bit on the sweet side for a Saison, moderate carbonation. Tasty brew, but kind of blurring the line between funky saison and full blown American wild ale. I liked it, but it was quite pricey for what I got.