A Sound Saison
Stillwater Artisanal Ales

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look: Hazy, bright mustard. Solid head retention. Bout a finger of foam.
Smell: Extremely aromatic. I was hit at once with a lot of ginger and sea salt. Almost like a gose. As it warms up (and your nose does, too) it rounds out with some ripe peach, lemoncello, bit of honey.
Taste: White peach, spiced cake, freshly squeezed orange juice. Bit of minerality, grassiness creeping up on the finish. Definitely, this beer leans a bit on the sweeter side, but that isn't to say it's out of balance. The finish is oranges for days.
Feel: Medium body, medium-high carbonation (would prefer maybe a little less bubbles, but it's a small critique)
Overall: Totallllly killer beer. This is what I want to be drinking every day. Period.

Hazy straw color with a consistent 1/4" head. Little lacing. Typical saison floral smell. Taste is pleasant with a pepper and citrus flavor along with a carbonation tingle. I've been waiting a while for a new saison from Stillwater. I need to stock up before they are gone.

16oz can. Poured out a slightly cloudy, golden yellow color with a. good-sized, white head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of grains, yeastiness, bubblegum and toffee. It tasted of yeastiness, sweet caramel, toffee and a good dose of spices.

 

 

L: Clear body. Big fluffy beautiful head.
S: Spices and hops. Coriander, cloves, and a bright citrus hop character. A hint of esters. Sweet and complex.
T: Very bright! Upfront spices, coriander mostly, some cracked pepper, then the citrus hops come out, quite acidic and sweet. Yeast on the finish, a bit of esters.
F: High carbonation, dry finish. Very refreshing.
O: Fantastic. I love the balance of spices and tropical hops. There’s so much going on here, really great and really refreshing for a bigger beer.

collaboration with monkish, a spelt saison apparently fermented to the sound of crashing waves, which, cool, i have heard about sonic influence on cell or molecule structure and the like with things like water freezing when be played different music types or volumes, but this seems like a reach, and probably doesnt influence the beer much, and if it does, we need way more information about it than they give us on the can, but its two great breweries doing one of my favorite styles so i had to grab this when i saw it. its decently clear through the first half of the pint can, downright milky towards the bottom, blending out to look more like a modern hazy ipa than anything else, great head on it two inches high, cool whip thick, and with wonderful retention. the nose is rustic to me, more from grain than yeast though, and smells sort of clean, french saison type esters, not bretty or anything, the grain is cerealy, earthen, and lightly spicy it seems, maybe partially influence by the hops there, but i get an almost rye malt note in here, some obvious breadiness, a raw wheat flavor and texture too, and there are some layers here. the flavor is identical to the nose, save for a bit more of a hop profile, decent bitterness but some lush cut flowers and green grassy notes, a finishing spice too, and maybe a bit of squeezed lemon, but its not overly fruity. perhaps noble, maybe a little southern hemisphere. its fluffy and full feeling, dry and herbal on the finish, rich without being sweet in the least, but drinkable too with all the bubbles. its layered but not overly interesting, i like the spelt and the hops together, but could definitely use a more dynamic fermentation profile, especially from these two breweries, this seems to clean and generic for them. in any event, fun stuff, id love to know more about the sound of waves crashing as a constitutive element in it, i hope they mean more than the fact that both of these breweries are close(ish) to the sea...

16oz can purchased from the fridge as a single from a local bar/bottle shop for $8. Hard to read the canned on date, but it looks like 6/21/21, which would make this 7 weeks and a day old.

Look: Pale straw color with a faint haze. There was a rocky head that dissipated to almost nothing. After pouring the sediment, it looks more like a NEIPA with opaque orange juice-esque haze and a bit of head retention.

Smell: Has a nice yeasty nose with notes of lemon, banana, clove, and coriander. Lots of phenolic and grassy notes. I get an interesting ginger ale note too. Smells refreshing.

Taste: This is quite good. It definitely has a hoppy bite, along with some spice and pepper, and a bit of acidity. The finish is very crisp and dry. Getting more dry fruity flavors with the addition of the sediment - mango, orange, and pineapple.

Feel: Light to medium bodied with a crisp finish.

Overall: This is solid. I'm not sure if I like it as much of some other more traditional saisons or as much as Sillwater Extra Dry (one of my favorites), but I can dig this.

From Instagram:
I reached out to Henry @monkishbrewing a couple months back, asking to explore our inner love of hoppy Belgian style ales, done in a fairly traditional manner..

we landed on a spelt driven farmhouse ale heavily hopped w/Tettnanger, Hallertau Mittelfrüh & Saaz for a lush blend of fresh grass, stone fruits & herbaceous spice.. with a dry, yet extremely smooth finish.

A Sound Saison
Hoppy Spelt Farmhouse Ale
Fermented to the sounds of waves crashing
Collaboration with Monkish
Brewed and canned by Stillwater Arisanal - Norh Haven, CT