Black Currant Saison
Clown Shoes

 

A: Poured into a duvel tulip to a deep golden orange beer which is fairly clear. The beer is topped by a dense and rocky two finger light pink colored head which fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing.
S: Smells of a nice spicy saison with some white pepper notes followed by some fruity esters with some orchard fruits and some currants in the background. Slight honey sweetness as well.
T: Taste is currants and orchard fruits, really nice peppery notes, hints of phenols, and more fruit with a touch of honey malt sweetness along with a cracker like malt base. On the swallow there's more currants and orchard fruits with some additional phenols and peppery spice.
M: This beer has a body which is somewhat light but it is not watery. Carbonation is effervescent while the beer has a drying finish which is expected.
O: Overall this is a really solid beer. The currants are an interesting addition and at times they seem to work. At other times it seems like a flavor note out of left field. The complexity on this beer is quite nice though and it's drinking well despite me sitting on it for a few years.

Pours amber red with a dense creamy light pinkish white foam head. Notes of fruity tart black currants, dark red berry notes, pale malts, vanilla, banana, clove spice, with earthy floral hops.

 

This is described as a "semi-sour" beer, and it is not bad. I don't review sour beers as I hate them (what am I missing?). The sourness here is not overwhelming, and as I stated, not bad. It is like a black currant fruit juice with some bitter overtone to it. The bitterness is the beer part. Actually, you might get about the same thing by mixing 1/2 parts fruit juice and a pale ale. While the fruit juice side is not overwhelming, and you might say it is well balanced, the fruit juice part does seem to dominate, as not a lot of beer character really comes through.

The low 6% ABV seems a high estimate. I drank the whole 22oz bottle at one meal with no effects. It could have been zero ABV for all I could tell.

I've had many $7 bottles of wine that would beat this, which suggests my 3 rating is a bit high. And I've had many a saison (one of my favorite styles) that would blow it away. But it was drinkable, though I have no desire to seek out anything like it again.

 

 

 

 

meh.

 

 

 

Though it smells fresh and crisp, the fruit flavors of this beer are a bit too sugary and sweet to really be tasty, and the flatter, boring consistency reminds me of more downscale beers. It is a pale crimson in color with a large, light, perma-present head that really doesn't help things much.