Straight Up Saison
Epic Brewing Company

 

[Original rating 2012-08-11] Pours gold with a thick white head. Aroma is straw, spice, yeast. Taste is pretty much the same with a bitter finish. Lively carbonation. A good attempt at a saison but not quite there.

Very impressed with this beer actually, despite the underwhelming things I'd heard about it. Refreshing to taste an adjunct-less saison again. Great, clean, traditional Belgian with no frills. A very well-crafted beer.

 

 

Pours a hazy bright straw yellow. Smells of Belgian yeast light apples and pear. Tastes of sweet malt, apple skin, pear, Belgian yeast and clove. A bit of asilky smooth mouthfeel, medium body. It's good not great. Refreshing.

 

22oz bottle, @7.9% ABV, and release number, I'm gonna say '35', because, y'know, printing issues, and all. More single-batch, yadda yadda yadda release 'goodness' from this pan Rocky Mountain brewing concern.

This beer pours a clear, pale golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and slightly bubbly bone-white head, which leaves but a few examples of remote islet lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of grainy and slightly crackery pale malt, a touch of gritty wheatiness, muddled domestic citrus flesh, mixed pome fruity notes (so, apples and pears, yeah), edgy white pepper and coriander spice, and a subtle earthy, leafy, and grassy green hoppiness. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, a lessened wheaty joint, some muddled citrus and apple/pear fruitiness, loitering yeast, ephemeral white pepper and clove spice, and more plain leafy, weedy, and somewhat perfumed floral hop bitters.

The bubbles are fairly understated in their muted and otherwise don't give a shit frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, just a touch of yeasty intransigence making unwelcome waves here. It finishes off-dry, the base mixed malt keeping the party going, amongst the lingering yeasty and fruity hop esters.

Overall, this is one heady and engaging New World Saison, as the uptick in both the hop and alcohol measures cannot be denied. Easy to drink, especially with the pretty much obfuscated near 16-proof booze quotient causing no problems whatsoever. Yeah, Epic has gone, well, more or less straight up epic with this particular offering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is taken from tasting notes.
A: Pours a cloudy straw color producing a stiff, finely bubbled meringue-like white foam cap that lings to the side of the glass leaving thick lace.
S: Over ripe fruit, slight funk, spice, citrus.
T: It starts spicy and then moves to citrus with a slight funk. It has an underlying sweetness throughout.
F: A big velvety bodied saison with average carbonation to a little below average.
O: A pleasant saison that could use a little more attenuation and carbonation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottle label notes: RELEASE #15, 7.1% ABV, DEN #1522

Clear, light and bright yellow body with lively carbonation and a bubbly, frothy, white head; decent clumps of lacing left on the glass. Grass and old lemon aroma; sage and pepper; mild bread-like yeast notes. Spicy, fruity, tart and dry flavors that mirror much of the aroma. Medium body with a very dry finish.

Straight up and straight forward. Plenty of zesty citrus and peppery spice flavors wrapped up in a nice dry finish. The body is somewhat overly carbonated and slightly thin, but otherwise, everything comes together nicely. A solid offering...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

batch #16

A: poured into a tulip to a hazy light yellow topped by a dense and soapy three finger white head that retains well and leaves excellent lacing
S: smells of peppery yeast, some dry malt, fruity esters and a slight herbal note
T: taste starts off with some fruity esters and then moves to some peppery and spicy yeast, slight phenols as well and some light bready malt. swallow is slightly alcoholic with more fruitiness spice, and herbalness
M: this beer is somewhat light with slightly prickly carbonation and a drying finish
O: this beer is clean, refreshing and very drinkable. It's very well made and it hits the marks that I'd expect to find in a saison. Alcohol content might be a little high but it's still pretty solid