Noel
Oxbow Brewing Company

 

Poured from a can into a snifter

Appearance – The beer pours a deep brownish red color with a small head of off white foam. The head has a good level of retention, fading over time and leaving a light level of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma is heavy of a dark fruit aroma of cherry and plum mixed with big notes candied dried fruits and smells of funk and spice of anis and nutmeg. Along with these aromas comes other smells of wheat and straw as well as a bit of toasted brown bread. With other smells of yeast and some cocoa being in the mix, a very intriguing smell is produced overall.

Taste – The taste starts with a drier wheat and toasted bready flavor paired with the yeast and the funk that were in the nose. At the same time there are dried fruit notes of raisin, currents, and plum along with some flavors of pepper and wood. Other spice flavors of anis, nutmeg, and clove are there as well, adding a very subtle backdrop flavor. As the taste advances it gets more and more boozy with a nice drier heat joining in. A light level of grass and hay join in at the end, leaving one with a drier and roasted/dark lightly funked and spiced taste to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is somewhat thin and light for a 9 % brew with a carbonation level that is on the more average side.

Overall – An interesting brew. Very big flavors that are somewhat all over the place, but in a good way. You have the spice, funk, fruit, and roast all balancing each other well. Certainly, worth a try.

 

 

 

 

Pours a murky brown color with a nice head and lacing
Aroma has fruity and spice hints
The taste follows the nose with a fruity and spice flavor
A medium bodied moderately carbonated beer
A well balanced Dark Farmhouse Ale

10%

 

 

Had on tap. Brown opaque body with a tan head. Aromas of dark fruit skins, dark grains, christmas spices, funk, and roasted malt nose. Taste is rugged with the spices and roasted malts and grains, light funk elevates a touch, some booze hits out as it warms, not the most cohesive sip. Feel is more messy: booze leaks, spices, roast and funk shape the body but not together rather at war on the feel of the beer. Meh

 

 

Taster at the brewery.

Appearance: Very dark mahogany. Not a lot of lace at all.

Aroma: Funk, booze.

Taste: Whoa there. They aren’t kidding about 9 percent. Big booze punch in the face. Also dark malts, dark grains, roastiness, funk, sourness.

Mouthfeel: Tough on the palate because of booze burn. Tasty but very aggressive.

Overall: This is a challenging beer. It’s nice, but it’s best for the end of the day. The booze hits like a sledgehammer and the flavors are very big. Good stuff, but not entry level saison material.

Just a hint of funk elevates this dark wheat saison to something special. Despite its thin body and high ABV, this one manages to be flavorful instead of boozy.

 

 

13oz pour on tap at ginger man.
A: pours a deep burgundy with a modest mocha colored head.
S: raisin and caramel, but also saison pepper
T: I keep picking up different notes as I sip. Biscuit, toffee, pepper, grape.
M: medium body with a short dry finish.
O: Really impressed. This beer makes me want to try more from oxbow. You could've fooled me if you had given me a blindfold and told me this was an allagash beer.