Ginger And Juice
Ninkasi Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Bottle from HomeBrewStuff. Understand the concept, but it all comes off as very muted, and kind of bland. Saison notes abound, but the ginger and apricot are hard to find. Pale golden body with small, frothy head. Saison mostly in aroma and taste. Normally like this brewery, this one’s sub-par.

22oz bottle - sounds like a riff on the ol' Gin & Juice gangster trope, as well as being a particularly summery version of a Saison.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden yellow colour, with three fat-ass fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and fizzy off-white head, which leaves a bit of arching rock form lace around the glass as it quickly subsides.

It smells of estery yeast, apricot pits, grainy and crackery pale malt, an equally edgy wheatiness, some prominent white and black pepper dust, further clove spice notes, and sure, a wee soupcon of musty ginger. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, wheat cereal, wan Belgian yeast (so, um, good!), a muddled drupe fruitiness, fading earthy table-top pepper, some still weakly spicy ginger root, and maybe a generic floral and grassy hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly straightforward in its work-a-day frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, nothing really taking the time to make any sort of ingress here. It finishes off-dry, the mixed malt and apricot/ginger sweeter sides presiding.

Overall, this comes across as a tampered-with Saison, but in a mostly mutually beneficial way - the fruit and ginger work well with the typically astringent yeast (almost neutering it, is what I really mean), which makes for a pretty easy-going tipple. In the end, I'm getting more of a hipster cocktail vibe from this one, and for once, that's a-ok.

Attractive sudsy pour in the Timmermans goblet-- golden yellow color with a tall foam. Lovely frothy mouthfeel with that tangy edge. Yeasty and fruity, but light and mild. Wheaty and malty followed by the bitter yeasty finish.

The fruit seems to bring out that meaty, funky flavor that I like in a Saison. The fruit and spice is so light and elegant, this should be a case study in flavoring beers. Eventually there is a sharp taste in the back of the throat. This is one of my favorite brews from Ninkasi. From the 22 oz bottle purchased at Haggen Market in Burlington, Wash.

 

07/25/2016

 

i reckon these guys should either stick to the hoppy and dark stuff, or spend a little more time refining these. very little saison nuance to this at all, and the yeast presence that is here is more of a french saison, right from the tube, 3711 or something like it, tangy a little, but sharp, and not interesting or rustic or funky enough to really fit the bill. like a weird belgian almost on the yeast side of things. i like the ginger a lot though, its forward and spicy, that part works with the yeast, juicy ginger even, makes it both hot a little and refreshing, boldly added. the apricot is harder to find, ends up tasting more like a generic fruity sweetness in here, a floral honey and citrus peel note are also there adding a little depth. its got some body to it, but not quite enough carbonation, although still summery and refreshing enough. i think with a different yeast strain, an additional yeast strain, or even a brett pitch, this would be fantastic, but it just doesnt have the complexity on the yeast side that i look for in this style these days. ten years ago it would have been great, but the high water mark has risen quite a lot since then, and this is missing something for me...

L: Clear Straw gold color with a small head and no lacing on the glass.

S: Belgian yeast, pepper, toasted Bready malt, some apricot. I dont get a lot of ginger. Floral hops in the background.

T: Apricots, slight hint of ginger, lemon peel, pepper and Belgian yeast. A nice crackers malt backbone.

F: High carbonation and light body, maybe slightly over carbonated.

O: An amazingly easy drinkimg summer beer.