Saison Rosè
Oxbow Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

500 ml. bottle.
Upon opening, a slight gusher, caught in the nick of time. Moderate pour yields a 1/2 inch off white head over a body with the color of pink grapefruit, but maybe a tad darker. Sticky lacing with half a dozen 1/4 inch gobs of head floating on the surface. Nose of berries and the pinot noir grapes. Taste mirrors nose very nicely with the slightest bit of grape tannins on the finish. Flavors of cherries, strawberries, and raspberries are all prevalent with a touch of sour grapes as it warms. Nice feel and overall, a solid saison from Oxbow. Cheers!

 

 

 

Looks like a rose wine in the glass with no head and no lacing. Smells slightly sour, a bit of funk and a bit of sweetness from the fruit. Tastes like a sour sparkling wine with the pinot noir grapes up front, sour funkiness, cherries, strawberries and raspberries come through nicely. Excellent take on a saison. Dry finish and mouth feel, very mild carbonation and bitterneas.

On tap at LA's Hermosillo, where I simply had to order it because I happened to be wearing an Oxbow T-shirt at the time.

Pours like a rose wine (I'm not bothering with the accent mark, sue me). Smells faint, sweet, and sharp--also very vinous.

The flavor is something else: sweet up front, very reminiscent of a Spree candy. This moves into a lightly yeasty middle that's still quite sweet and then a bone dry finish. The flavor is intense throughout but incredibly well-balanced. Excellently brewed.

oxbow is one of the best in the game at this point, and its always amazing to get to drink their beer. this one is pretty delicate to me, mild compared to how it reads on paper, not sure if its all second use fruit or what, i know thats becoming popular, but the cherry, strawberry, and raspberry in here is all pretty subtle. the pinot noir is the lead fruit by far, which is what i was kind of hoping for anyway. the beer is soft and pink, frosted looking under an active white head with just a little haze to it towards the bottom of the little bottle. the nose is more red wine than red grape, tannic and concentrated to me, quite obviously pinot noir too which is cool. a nice funk and tart mix to this as well, bretty in the nose, a little acidic in the flavor, but complex in its mellowness, refined, reserved, saison-esque and wild enough without being too sour to drink on, its great! the strawberry element comes out behind the wine, like floral and tangy like they can be when they arent quite ripe, a nice bridge between the pinot and the fermenting agents. seems like a pretty simple mash, there is a little body here, but the flavor is really light, dry cerealy, even ricey to me, a little starchy but clean at the end. dry and funky with some of the raspberry tartness coming on late, the whole thing opening up a lot with temperature. i thought this was awesome, a cool mix of fruitiness and vinous depth, neat and complete fermentation, and another stud of a beer from oxbow. i wish i could get their stuff more regularly!