Genevieve
Melvin Brewing

i wanted way way more from this, especially given some tasty and funky semi recent melvin brews, i think out of there eureka location, but this really is basic and disappointing, generic, not even particularly well made, and for me one of the least memorable beers i can recall ever having that bears the melvin name. honey colored and pretty clear from the tap, aroma of cut flowers, white wine, and generic belgian yeast esters, a french or belgian saison yeast strain it seems, allowed to cook away warm, with very little else going on here other than the obligatory hopping, seems less intentional and refined than they are capable of, and tastes almost old, even poured through a less than clean line, which is not really an issue where i had it, so i think its the beer not the bar this time. dried flowers, white pepper, pear jelly, and some light residual sweetness from the grain, i get some unwelcome phenols here, a lightly chemical thing, and nothing but pale wheat and two row barley underneath. the hops give it some citrus and some bitterness later, but i cant help thinking how much better this should be than it is, even outside of melvins traditional wheelhouse, this seems lazy and uncareful. not a bad beer if you like an estery basic wheat, but i think quite poor as a saison, especially for their standards. weirdly i think this is the first beer of theirs ive had since the roadhouse buyout, hopefully an unrelated accident here, these guys are better than this...