Off The Beaten Path 1
Jackie O's Brewpub

Batch 1, bottled in 2017. Enjoyed July 2020.

Three years age on this. The bottle still has a lot of life to it, bubbling once opened but thankfully not foaming over. The pour is a slightly hazy golden yellow, with a generous cloud of foam that lingers.

The aroma has a pleasing spicy note to it, some cracked peppercorns, bloomy cheese, and a light lemon-curd funk. I get some sea breeze and flora in the back. The sip follows the smell, with lemon-curd and pepper, and a touch of piney chewiness to it.

This beer is vibrant and zippy, with a crisp effervescence that keeps it light. I thought it was fantastic, especially with the age on it.

 

Would I buy this again? Definitely.

Smell is this beers finest feature. Complex nose that features lemon, oak, white wine and is perfect for a hot summer day. Beautiful appearance with white line-head retention on a cloudy yellow beer.

Platinum with webs; wine, white balsamic, lemon curd, egg custard, hint of white pepper, and flowers, too; cracker then lemon sorbet, herb oil, more white pepper, slight orchard fruit, hint of cheese rind, and an earthy little comeback; chalky.

4 4.5 4.25 4 4.25

Knockout nose. Super balanced with the mixed fermentation. Plus this incredible thread of vanilla that's somehow not oak. Top notch.

Really nice beer. Light gold, decent head that did eventually dissipate completely, and great carbonation. Lightly spicy with a touch of fruity brett character. Extremely dry. I agree with the below that it is slightly too thin on the body.

 

Moderate pour yields a one and a half inch white head over a slightly hazy, light golden body with some lacing. Nose of saison yeast with a real nice bit of funk. Taste of saison spiciness with a nice dry finish. A tad thin on the mouthfeel but overall a really good representation of the style. Nice job and cheers to Athens, Ohio!

375 mL bottle. Very pale hazy yellow. Big white head. Smells a little herbal, lemony, and doughy. Tastes the faintest bit lemony, but not really tart. Some earthy yeast flavors. A little grainy with a bright crisp cracker malt. Finishes a little doughy with a slight white pepper aftertaste. Light body with high carbonation. Simple but very tasty.

 

it blows my mind that this isnt rated more favorably, its amazing beer. i also think its sort of minimalist and modest how they just call it a saison, like, come on, this is about as advanced and refined and special as it gets, the final evolution of the style in a lot of ways, and it deserves a lot more credit than it appears to be getting! absolutely gorgeous beer both in appearance and overall energy, golden and largely clear with a tall and rising champagne head, which ends up being a good comparison for carbonation and vivacity as well. the head is above the rim of our wine glasses, and it stays high the whole time, constantly fed by rising bubbles. heavy white wine and delicate dandelion flowers and greens, lemon verbena, and minerals in the nose, insanely clean for being as bretty and mature and funky as it is, uncommonly so even. the flavor is like that too, oddly fresh and springy for how developed the yeast is, maybe the stainless instead of oak has something to do with it, maybe the bottle conditioning with more wild yeasts, likely both are responsible for this bright, dry, complex brew. floral grassy hops in here, white grape and stone fruit and green apple nunces, cut flowers and fresh vibes, explosive and booming carbonation, lingering bretty complexity and wildness, so so good. this is delicate and bright and distinct, which might endear it to me the most, so many wild and wildish beers out there these days, and a lot of them use the same cultures, sort of defeating the "wild" nature of the whole thing, but this is one of a kind in the profile of its ferment. familiar a little bit, but so refined and good. awesome food beer, i am now dying for more of this, and super interested in tracking down number 2! a standout from an epic week of beer drinking!

L: Poured from a bottle to a tulip glass. Had a bright yellow color and a cloudy texture. There was a massive, creamy, extremely long-lasting head. Very good lacing.

S: A nice aroma of the old saison barnyard funk, Belgian yeast, spices, and some citrus as well.

T: Tasted of a moderate amount of Belgian-style yeast, a bit of the barnyard funk (not as much as expected), some citrus notes (lemon), and some peppery notes. This is one of those good, but not great type of flavors. It seemed to need a little goose to really push it over the top. Fairly tasty, but slightly tempered.

F: A well-carbonated beer with a lively finish. Medium-bodied.

O: In general, this is a solidly made, if slightly flawed, beer. Drinkable, though.

 

 

 

The carbonation in this beer is so expansive and overly active that I had to wait 15 minutes to let it settle after having only poured about a half-finger of actual fluid into a huge Belgian tulip. The tulip holds around 18 ounces of liquid and it was completely full of foam to where you couldn't even see the beer level. I poured a second drop of beer in and it rose up like I dropped Mentos into cola. I almost could not drink for a half hour, but it finally settled, and the beer itself, when you can finally catch a glimpse of it, is a pale, hazy gold. Once it settles down, the impressively retentive head is actually quite beautiful, like intensely whipped egg meringue, but it just takes an inordinate amount of time to get to this point.

Smell is spicy, peppery funk, herbal grassy onion and musty kumquat.

Taste is measured herbal grassy bitterness, peppery onion, sweetening corn that is Pislener-esque, with slightly tart lemon, straw and a faint hint of light, woody funk.

Body is medium-light, perfectly drinkable, with a mild froth that is the total opposite of the imposing head, and finishing with a semi-dry tingle.

This is a much more successful Saison than OTB2, for me, but I had that on draft, so I'm not sure if the comparison is fully valid.

 

Very good Saison. Fairly low .abv but good flavor. Pours a very light hazy yellow color with a big foamy, highly carbonated white head. Excellent head retention and patchy lacing on the pint glass. Aroma is fairly mild, Belgian yeast, lemon and a little spicing. Flavor is more robust. The yeast, spices and lemon all stand out much better. There is also a tartness (like a sour) that makes up for the lack of barnyard/funk found in many good saisons. Mouthfeel is good. Crisp and tart, bigger than the 5.5% abv would suggest. I enjoyed this one.

 

Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass. Very tiny little foamy gush upon opening.

Slow decant yields powerful results. Gleaming crystal green and gold colors, with a giant middle column of roaring fire. Steely white tinged, and supper rocking and frothy head upon creation. This sucker is as big as you want to make it, letting out thick giant bubblebath lace and rocky chunks of creamy head. This head wont even quit either, hangs like unbelievably stiff whipping cream. Fantastic looker of a beer.

Real enjoyable aroma. Soft herbs and wheat like sweetness mixing in with a chamomile like tea bent. Fine green herbs, a touch of sweet sage and floral kicks as well, with a delictable subtle funk quality. Great stuff so far.

Palate seems strangely a letdown after all that greatness, but doesn't make it all bad. Light and simple bodied but also quite gaseous, with not much malt density to cut through and tame it down. Spritzy and mineral warm flavors of herbal tea and touches of light lemon. Funky flavors seem to be a bit more bowled over by quite a large mineral/rocky like body.

A good solid saison, only mared by the greatness of appearance and aroma just makes for a minor letdown. But all is not lost.