Super Saison
Wedge Brewing Company

 

 

I wasn't expecting this to be as farmhouse sour as it is. Lots of bubble gum and spice but also pretty tart. Ok beer but I wouldn't get this beer again

 

 

On tap at the Wedge brewery, Asheville NC

L - copper and clear with clarity. 1 finger of head and some lacing

S- Belgian yeast dominates

T- citrus and grapefruit. Tasty! More of a Belgian IPA. Perfect amount of sweetness

F- well carbonated

O- An awesome brew. Kind of like the Iron Rail but with Belgian yeast.

 

 

 

 

On-tap at Wedge Brewing Company, Asheville, NC

A: The beer is relatively clear golden yellow- amber in color and has a slight amount of carbonation. It poured into a snifter glass with a quarter finger high off white head that died down, leaving a thin collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of fruits stand out in the taste - oranges seem to stand out in particular.
T: The taste is similar to the smell and seems very sweet with flavors of candied orange peels along with hints of coriander spices.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate among of carbonation.
O: This isn't your typical saison. It tastes more like a tripel or a souped up version of a saison meshed with a witbier. No traces of alcohol are perceptible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a somewhat hazy orange with a thin head that fades to a ring. Smells of orange blossom honey up front with some coriander, followed by some orange juice aromas. Tastes like orange and tangerine juice all the way, with some peel at the end and some more coriander floating throughout. Super smooth in the mouth- eminently quaffable and refreshing, which means the abv is nicely hidden as well. A different take on a saison, but it works for me.

Glad to have a chance to finally try a bunch of new brews from Wedge. Pretty much cleaned the taps out over the last week there.

From the nice pour here we can really get things going. A nice golden amber color that has a light haze and great visible carbonation that streams to the surface with great force. A nice moderate level of white head rises up and stays on the surface for what seems to be forever while the rest settles down. Light aroma, bready with hints of lemon, pears and apples that settle in nice but start to fade as it warms. Taste is a little let down as it comes across a bit muddled and lacking the direction I was hoping to find. Sweet tasting with hints of bready, cookie dough like flavors mixed with light fruits and touches of grassy notes. Firm, yet light body is nicely blended and sits well on the palate.

Overall a really solid offering, but it needs something more, not sure what, but something, still not bad.

Lightly hazy nectarine that has a great deal of honey gold mixed in. Less than abundant visible carbonation leads to a less than Belgianesque crown of foam. The thick chunk of ivory colored bubbliness still looks good and is doing a bang-up job decorating the glass.

Unfortunately, the aroma is less than aromatic. On a positive note, it smells like a Belgian saison. It's lightly floral, lightly herbal and lightly spicy. As far as attempting to identify specific ingredients... no clue. And the brewery seems to want to keep them a secret.

Super Saison is not a super saison. It's better than average beer (in a general sense) that doesn't come close to the best that the Belgians have to offer. It takes more than estery yeast to get it right, after all. No appreciable alcohol helps the cause.

Saison-like flavors are present, it's just that they don't combine into anything very deep or complex. The beer is sweeter than expected, with spicy, tart and bitter coming along right behind. Let's go with sugar cookies with a thin layer of caramel, ripe pears, peaches and a very light dusting of ground clove. The taste score does not deserve to be rounded up. The drinkability score does.

Mouthfeel is where this ale suffers the most in comparison to its Belgian counterparts. There isn't much size and there's even less creamy expansiveness. It isn't a negative sensory experience, but then it isn't a positive one either.

Super Saison is not as good as Golem, which is the only other Wedge beer that I've had to date. The brewers are on the right track, but they aren't in sight of the lead horse. A few well-chosen tweaks *might* turn this into pretty good beer.