Grizacca
Oxbow Brewing Company

Foggy pale yellow/straw, more pail than the picture shows, with a greenish tint. Over two minutes the thin white head quickly transforms from fizzy to fine and creamy, on the way to a vail. Only a tracery of lace is deposited on an Offero oversized wine glass.

Light grain and lemongrass open, with coriander quickly following. A mild floral quality mixes with an equal part funkiness that is simultaneously elevating and earthy. All of the aroma is delicate with slightly more than wisps of differentiation.

The flavor has far more hops than expected, with the associated bitterness. Tartness is light. Lemon pit his accompanying white bread. Watercress is more apparent than lemongrass, with mild pepper. The finish is eternal, clean, and mild.

Crisp with lots of mineral nuances. The body is light with the texture of taffeta. Alcohol is hinted at, while carbonation is fine and spritzy.

This is a delicate beer, in all characteristics. It drinks like a cross between Pilzner and Saison. I had been looking forward to trying Oxbow for a while and these first few beers are certainly living up to my hopes. Today is a beautiful, mild Autumn afternoon, after lots of yard work and this beer is alright!

 

It's a very pale, moderately hazy golden orangish color. The head is pure white, short-lived, and non-clingy. There's a nice ring of bubbles supported by a stream of rising microbubbles.

The smell is mild. Citrusy/tropical, a very mild earthy funk, and a bit of faint spiciness and a little cereal malt. Enticing, laid back.

The taste is bright. Mildly tart at best and I get a bit of sweetness. The hops come to play - mango and orange with a little lemongrass, green herbal. It is all making for a very bright taste that isn't overblown. The earthy funk is quite subdued, there's a mild bitterness followed by a pleasant level of peppery spiciness.

Light feel, slight tingle from the lingering peppery notes, mild bitter.

This is a sort of delicate beer and I can see it going with lots of different foods.

12oz can purchased from the fridge as a single, don't remember the price. Canned on 7/28/20, so this is 16 months old. Can says enjoy within 1 year, so I think this should still be good.

Look: Pours a nice golden color with a very soft haze and tiny effervescent bubbles. After adding the sediment, this now looks like a New England-style IPA or pale ale with a nearly opaque golden yellow color and a nice, compact white head that is almost a pinky finger high.

Smell: Lovely aromas of pleasant acidity, citrus, spicy black pepper, funk, and fruity hops. There are some medicinal notes on the finish. Very yeasty and spicy.

Taste: Interesting. For a grisette, this is much less acidic than I was expecting. In fact, it's not acidic at all. This could just be because a lot of the grisettes that I have had tend to be on the acidic side. It is very dry, and the hops really lead the way in the flavor department. The finish is significantly bitter in a very generic sense. Due to this beer's age, the hop aromatics and character have probably faded a lot. Nevertheless, it's a tasty and refreshing one. Medicinal notes on the finish as well, along with some herbal, spicy notes.

Feel: Light to medium bodied, nicely carbonated.

Overall: This is not one of my favorite Oxbow beers, but it's still pretty good. I would like to have tried a fresher version of this beer. If you like bone-dry saisons, then for sure you should give this a shot. I think that this would be an interesting beer to pair with cheese.

From the can: Grizacca is a dry-hopped grisette. This rustic and refreshing farmhouse wheat beer is brewed with Maine-grown spelt and Azzaca hops from the Pacific Northwest.

 

From the bottom of the can: "CANNED ON 08/25/20 12:30"
(I wonder if that is a misprint?)

Appearance: The body is a light, bright, lemon-gold color. It has a fluffy white head that is short in stature but retains pretty well. No lacing.

Aroma: It has a nice souring fruit aroma with a strong herbal bay leaf scent mixed with white pepper and a light urea character. At times a light earthy character comes through like the scent of moss. It has a pleasant and enticing aroma as a whole.

Taste: Up front it has a strong herbal character with notes of bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary with hints of lemon creeping across the tongue as it approaches the center of the mouth. A light herbal and woody finish.

Mouthfeel: It feels light with a medium herbal bitterness which is nice. The body as a whole doesn't feel cohesive with the flavor but it doesn't detract from the beer as a whole.

Overall: As a whole the beer had great flavors and aromas but the body felt a bit out of place. It is still worth drinking because the herbal and somewhat spicy characters from the beer are fantastic. I would definitely drink it again and I would recommend it.

Soft, pale yellow body; fine-sized carbonation, lively; fairly thick, white head. Bright citrus smell; lemon and lemon grass; faint presence of cereal grain. Excellent tart, lemony taste; mild phenol presence; herbal. Soft, pleasant body; light in character; billowy effervescence on the palate; semi-dry throughout.

This is a fine specialty wheat saison. It comes across light and delicate yet with plenty of character to make it intriguing across the senses.

 

 

 

This lacked the fruit, spice, carbonation, and zesty finish I am used to in a Saison. Perhaps the concept of a farmhouse wheat beer doesn’t appeal to me. The Azacca hops are an excellent choice, but the overall taste isn’t appealing to me. Grisette is a subset of the Saison, and the wheat spelt doesn’t work for me. I’ll pass on this style.

 

Much of what you’d expect from a farmhouse ale: light, grassy, a bit of citrus, slightly sour. What I really like about the taste is it seems to have more than a hint of berries (raspberries?). Anyway, wonderfully refreshing on a hot summer’s day.

 

 

 

Can from City Swiggers on the UES. Pours an opaque pale yellow with a bubbly white head that dissipates quickly, very sudsy lacing, smell is sweet melon, orange flesh, cut by sharp and funky grass, hints of lemon peel and pine, taste is mildly hoppy seltzer water with a bit of grassy funk, leaves a dry underripe peachy sweetness on the finish, this beer is light and well carbonated, again reminiscent of seltzer. A delightfully light and bright farmhouse treat. Perfect for a warm spring day in the sun.

pours light pale yellow and 2 finger head that fades quickly with low lacing, Nice yeast and funk on the nose bubble gum and spice mixed together nice spice and hop bite crushable and tasty

 

A: The beer is rather hazy light yellow in color. It poured with a quarter finger high bright white head that left a narrow collar around the edge, some lacing down the sides of the glass, and lots of specks of bubbles covering the surface.
S: Light aromas of grains, yeast, and lemons are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell, except that the lemony flavors are a bit stronger.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer lacks the dryness normally exhibited by other saisons but is easy to drink and has refreshing flavors of lemons in the taste. It is very easy to drink.

Serving type: can

Pours a hazy golden straw. Stone fruit on the nose. Grizacca is dry crispy, estery, phenolic, fruity, basically everything you want in a refreshing, light, delicious saison. It is the right combination of refreshing, tasty, and complex. I love this beer and I hope Oxbow starts canning it.

Belgiany yeast esters with a hint of dry pepper and an everso mild lemon tinge. Theres some bubblegum that surfaces off the back too. Very carbonated but dissipates quickly so its not bile-inducing. Yum.

 

 

 

Had it on tap at Arts and Craft Beer Parlor, NYC
Pours a very pale, slightly cloud, straw color. Modest wisp of a head quickly dissipates leaving a scattering of bubbles.
Initially, a light funk hits the nose, however, given that this one is dry hopped, that particular aroma soon dominates. I detect a hint of tropical fruit, citrus, pear, melon and grass.
Clean and dry taste that showcases the hops. A gentle citrus touch and light tropical fruit sweetness surround the pale crackery malts. There is a grassy hops and light peppery spice in the middle palate, as well as a subtle tartness. Finish is clean and dry.
Light bodied, fizzy carbonation and crisp in the mouthfeel. Very clean and dry in the palate.
A hops forward Farmhouse Ale, not as intensely hopped as an IPL or session IPA, but similar in feel. Very sessionable but the body was a bit thin...I suppose that was the point. I could have several of these on a hot day.

 

restrained and delicate beer, yet still distinctly oxbow. these guys are starting to (or i am starting to more readily identify) a house yeast complexion that is really flattering. a little haze to this mild saison, a nose of mixed grains and a little funk, less azacca hop obviousness than i anticipated from the name, if that is indeed what they mean with it, but it is hoppier than many other table saison types, and they yeast here is appealing and interesting enough, a cool mix of old world and new school, which oxbow generally hits pretty solidly with their beers in this field. its not too wild, its not too malty, nor too hoppy, almost lazily finding a cool balance and complexity, faint willow bark and smoke like a gratzer or grodziskie might have, which throws me off a little, but its so minor, still bretty and dry and rustic and simple. light ripe apricot and melon from the hops, grassy and sort of spicy noble too, clean and easy in the finish, well carbonated, and downright delicious and easy drinking. they dont all have to be headturners on the flavor spectrum to be world class from oxbow, and this is a great example of something a little more mellow but equally high end as anything else they do. fun to find one of their beers on tap, a rarity in my world!

 

 

 

Im not a fan of the style but for what it is, its nice. Very light hazy yellow. White thin head. Soft scents of citrus. Pop of hoppy citrus up front. Thin texture very dry and carbonated. Not much finish. Drys quickly in your mouth.

 

 

 

Very light pale gold colour. Medium head. Hay/citrus nose. Pine, melon, hay taste with a medium finish of grass.