Rivulet
Oxbow Brewing Company

Review 1635
Rivulet
Oxbow Brewing
Date: hard to read maybe 13 May 2021
I received this beer as a gift, the first time-consuming something from this brewery. The beer is 40 degrees, and I pour it into a tulip glass. The pour created a frothy and air one-fingered white head with poor retention. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The color charts around SRM 2, pale straw with light golden hues. The beer is somewhat cloudy, with a few carbonation bubbles visible.

The aromas are straw, grass, floral, toasted crackers, a touch of funk, and herbal. The nose is muted but fragrant.

I taste herbal, grass, straw, white floral notes, minerals, bay leaves, a touch of funk, and subtle earthiness.

The mouthfeel is carbonated and crisp.

The body is light, has medium-high carbonation, and a quick finish.

The beer is light and refreshing with loads of floral, herbal, and mineral flavors. Tasty beer for a chilly fall evening.

I received a can of this Saison from @roy_hobbs. Poured into a tulip glass. It pours a cloudy, grassy, dirty yellow color with a large, foamy, milk-white head that dissipated quickly. It's highly effervescent. It has a good, funky, Belgian farmhouse nose with lemon peel, a whiff of banana and orange, coriander, and musty, earthy notes. The taste opens quite dry with notes of dry cracker joining the tart citrus and funky, Belgian yeast. The tastes are rather subdued. The mouth feel is crisp and lite with lively carbonation and it's easily drinkable at 5.5% Overall, Rivulet is an acceptable Saison and I'm glad to have tried it but it's not at the level of the leaders of the style. If you want an American-brewed Saison, then I'd suggest Hennepin as a better alternative.

Light and straw-like in color. Medium amount of fizzy white head leaving behind a think lasting layer. Semi-translucent. Nothing inherently wrong with the appearance, but for unknown reasons it's not calling to me. Aroma has a little bit of barnyard funk, but not a ton. Taste is ok, but I'm not quite sure it's hitting the mark of whatever it's trying to be. Not much in a the way of funk or zing to the taste. It's just kind of underwhelming. It's not bad, but it's in this weird middle lane where nothing is standing out. I'm a huge fan of farmhouse beers, but relative to Hill Farmstead, Fox Farm and Suarez, this particular beer is a clear couple notches below.

Rivulet from Oxbow Brewing. Received in early June 2021 in Ninja box from @Roy_Hobbs. 12 oz can stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 24/6/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Bottom rim stamped “RIVULET CANNED ON 04/13/21”. Served at 44.4 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 53.7 degrees.
Appearance – 3.
First pour – Pale Straw (SRM 2), hazy.
Body – Pale straw (SRM 2), opaque. When rear-lite, translucent with a greenish hue.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.8 cm, aggressive center pour), ghost white, medium density, average retention, diminishing to leave a two to four mm crown and a thin complete cap. Second pour produces no head.
Lacing – Poor. Only some tiny islands of lacing remain as the head retracts and the level falls.
Aroma – 3.5 – Weak yeast and some lemony citrus. No malt.
Flavor – 3.5 – Begins with slightly bitter with light lemony hops and a bit of spice and yeast. No malt. No ethanol (5 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Gastric warming does not occur. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. In general, clean and funkless.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, watery, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 Nice bit of lemon with some weak spice backup.

 

I don't usually buy so-called "farmhouse ales" because that term can mean _so_ many different things. In this case I was hoping for something very yeasty, fruity, slightly sour, either sweet or dry...but this was nothing like that. This is a well-made, unfiltered hoppy pale ale with slight hints of saison character. I imagine a Pale Ale or IPA drinker would enjoy this.

 

 

 

Cloudy, pale straw color. Lasting rim bubbles from the small initial head. Infrequent spots for lace.

Nearly farmhouse in smell, this beer has a nice hop kick with a yeasty base. More three dimensional than most Saisons.

Clean flavor with a largely yeasty pale malt base. High carbonation and neutrally bodied. Although the aftertaste is brief, it's full flavored with yeast being strongest.

 

 

 

On tap at Oxbow

12 oz. on draft in a becher type thing at Oxbow on Saison Day!

Appearance: A cloudy, sandy type color with a two finger white head. Classic saison appearance.

Aroma: Barnyard, lemon, yeast, grass, some toasty quality.

Taste: Follows nose. Herbaceous, grassy, dry dry dry. Nice lemon and earthy notes.

Mouthfeel: Easy but flavorful.

Overall: Well executed, classic saison.