Phenomenology Of Spirit (2014)
Hill Farmstead Brewery

Bottle courtesy of Snap_Rat.
So dark it looks like a stout.
Smell and taste are pretty classically HF saison. Additionally some dark fruit and slight cheesy funk.
Tart and dry.
Pretty nice.

 

 

 

Rhis gad some age on it and it made it super amazing!

 

 

Bottle: Poured a black color ale with a large off-white foamy head with good retention. Aroma of roasted malt with some nice funky notes and some oak presence is quite enticing. Taste is a good mix of roasted malt with some oak notes and some funky yeast notes and a dry finish. Body is about average with great carbonation. Dark saison are not a style I usually seek out but this take was quite interesting.

 

Bottle thanks to Eric

 

A cacophonous melange of dark berries, oak tannins, lemon peel, and roasted malts initially disturb the air. At this point I found myself somewhat in despair and in doubt on whether I was right to put this brew in such high regard, but luckily my qualms were slowly quelled as all the previously rowdy elements blended together beautifully as the brew warmed up. In my younger years I'd probably say something stupid like how this is exactly like how the disparate subject matters covered sequential capitular order in Phenomenology make no sense until you go back and re-read the preface and then try to think about each subject in relation to it, but no one would get it, so onwards we go.

A similar dialectic is evident on the palate as the flavors don't quite all coalesce together at first. The wine-like elements sort of steer the main impression to one side, whereas the more malty and light, spritzy saison-esque elements try to mount a flavor counterattack to see if it can reclaim dominance, but time and temperature forces the two opposing discourses into a palatal stalemate and in the end what you have is a refreshing saison which is well-accentuated by hints of red wine and oak. Young me would also say something stupid like the wine is the thesis, the malt the antithesis, and the final harmonious result the synthesis, but absolutely nobody cares.

Mouthfeel is light, crisp, and spritzy. A respectable amount of carbonation is still present despite the two years it spent maturing in various barrels and one it spent in the bottle before being opened and guzzled down to beer aficionados that have become consciously aware of the others' self-consciousness. Medium-light bodied, with a pleasantly dry finish.

Philosphy puns are hard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 brew bottled in 2016. 750ml into a matching HF large wine glass appears a dark brownish chestnut color with reddish clarity when held to the light. A khaki topping appears a finger strong that fades leaving a curtain of lace.

Aroma is vinous, tangy yet heavily mineral laden with dirty pocket change and metal. Almost has a flemish feel to it at times.

Taste is really all over the place. Its tart and vinous yet mineral laden with a lemony lactic feel, oak and earth with slight dusty grain/bretty feel.

Light in body with modest carb. Having had the original version of this 6 years ago I can say this version is much better but still not something I would want to buy again.