Civil Disobedience #4.5
Hill Farmstead Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Harvest Fest VIP. Very pale hazy yellow pour with white head. Aroma is super citrusy, tropical fruits with a very aromatic saison yeast. Taste is dry, hoppy, yeasty finish, some fresh coriander. Palate is sparkling and very dry. Superb blend.

 

 

 

 

On-tap at HF Harvest Fest 2012...into HF wine glass.

Pours a golden yellow color, white creamy head, mirky, spotty lace, thin collar. Nose is a hop-forward saison, grass, pine, light citrus, some sweetness, light funk, light tartness. Flavor is less hops and more saison, which is what I was hoping for. Nice sweetness, some tartness from the Arthur, and the Simcoe was light but added a nice complexity to the beer. Light body, good carbonation, clean finish.

I was pumped to be able to try this, and had a few glasses. A really cool experiment from HF that worked really well for me. The Simcoe hops were light enough to let the Arthur and Clara come though. Good stuff!

First beer during the VIP Harvest Festival. Almost a full pour into my HF stemmed tulip. Reviewed from the notes I took while drinking the beer waiting in line for another pour. Like yourefragile said this is a blend of Simcoe, Clara, and Arthur.

A- Pours a hazy yellowish orange golden with about a finger of white foamy head (I noticed some pours had much more) that has decent retention but slowly fades to just a very thin layer leaving behind fairly thick spotty lacing.

S- Surprisingly a lot of melon, cantaloupe, hops from the simcoe that provided some grapefruit, pineapple, and a tiny bit of lemon zest. A hint of funk and tartness in the background. A little bit above average aroma strength.

T- Again a mixture of cantaloupe and other melons balanced with the simcoe presence of pineapple, grapefruit, and other tropical hop flavors. A hint of very light tartness and some bitterness on the finish. Nicely balanced without anything dominating too much. Definitely a unique flavor.

M- Fairly light, refreshing, easy to drink.

O- This was definitely an interesting blend. Out of the VIP blends it was probably one of my favorites, however there are plenty of other HF non-blended beers that I would definitely take over this one. For a blend it definitely provided a unique flavor that was fairly enjoyable but nothing that made it stand out too much. The melon presence definitely surprised me a little bit. If I had to sum this beer up I would call it a hoppy simcoe saison that had a refreshing, lightly tart melon presence that was balanced with tropical and lightly zesty simcoe hop flavors. Given the chance I would definitely try this beer again.

 

One of one 20L keg blended for the Friday night party at the '12 Harvest Festival. Blend of '12 summer saisons and Simcoe single hop pale. Dan guessed ratio to be: 4L Clara, 10L Arthur, 6L Simcoe.

Had the first pour off this keg and then a couple of glasses near the end resulting in two significantly different experiences with this beer. Appearance of both was a hazed golden orange, creamy white head, ample lace. Aroma and flavor of first glass were dominated by the simcoe component, hoppy and leafy with mild citrus and a bitter finish. Subsequent glasses were saison forward, crisp and dry, with mild sourness (sort of like a "blue label" Arthur light), some tropical fruit and floral bitterness. I liked the later glasses better, but consensus was split amongst my friends at the party.