Gandy Dancer
Carter's Brewing

i know i picked the right wife when she walks right in here, orders the rye saison, and proceeds to describe its yeast character to me, before ive even gotten through reading the full beer list! this is really gorgeous beer, and as the clean saisons go, its hard to beat something like this. i generally dislike the clean ones, always wanting some funk or rustic element in my saison, and finding the white wheat an french saison yeast combination a little samey most of the time. thats where the rye comes in and makes this one stands out from those types, its high in here, spicy and earthy, and provides the ancient sort of farmhouse agricultural vibe i want in the malt bill of my saison, really it makes this beer awesome. its pale rye, dusty and earthen and old worldy, even with the clean yeast. like all the saisons and belgian types we had in here this time, the esters of the yeast seem restrained and well controlled, a little white wine, green grape, and pear fruitiness here, but its the spiciness of depth of the grain that define it as much as the yeast. the hops here give it a unique and somewhat contrasting freshness, herbal and bitter enough, nicely selected and dosed, pretty traditional, but distinct enough to stand out too. the carbonation is rushing and fast and refreshing, and the beer is crackling dry, allowing the rye to again pop on the tongue at the swallow. this is one of the better clean saisons i have had in some time, and i continue to think that this is what carters does best. outstanding beer from a quality and execution standpoint, really impressive, and different enough even though the yeast is such a known entity...