Saison
Boom Island Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Aroma is relatively simple but strong, with citrus, banana and clove. Taste is more complex with orange, fleshy fruit, and banana balanced by clove, pepper and a sharp, musty earthiness. Pretty effervescent and very dry. One of the better Minnesota Saisons.

nothing wrong with this one at all, a clean and easy drinking belgian type ale, but it lacked for me the depth i like in a saison, certainly on the yeast side of things, and it was a bit of a letdown overall, especially considering these guys do some amazing funky and wild stuff, like, truly incredible, so i expected more out of their saison. its an easy drinker, sunny colored, clearish for the style, and massively carbonated, nice for summer. there is a little sharpness to the yeast, belgian spice, sort of peppery, and a clean and easy medium bodied and real dry malt base with a little less obvious wheat contribution than i look for in these. if it want for the refreshing and satisfying mouthfeel, i would like this less. itd be killer with a brett pitch, but even a more rustic farmhouse strain of yeast would give it the missing depth i think. i have been pretty over the moon on most of the boom island stuff, so maybe i expected a little too much from it. its nice beer, inviting and approachable as saison goes, but i was looking for something a little more interesting out of it.

 

Spicy and fruity nose. Juicy fruit bubble gum, chamomile, apples, and pears. Somewhat minty and herbal. White pepper, clove. Saltine cracker malt character. Spicy hops. A hint of honey sweetness.

Pours hazy gold yellow. Frothy white head. Good lacing and retention.

Juicy, spicy and bitter. Pears and citrus fruits followed quickly with bracing bitterness, spicy hops. Flowers, almost lavender like. Sweet citrus, tangerine creeps in and out. Ridiculously dry. Just a touch of cracker and honey malt flavors.

Medium light body, high carbonation. Bone dry with lingering hop bitterness on the finish.

Closer to saisons from Belgium than most with the benefit of being able to get it quite a bit fresher.

 

 

A rather standard Belgian-style saison, but with a more a restrained fruity aroma, frothy white head, some floaty bits in the beer after a gentle pour. The beer has an excessive amount of sediment in the bottles, even considering the statement of it being bottle aged. This detracts from the overall presentation. The mouthfeel is thin, and there's a striking degree of astringency that renders the beer exceedingly harsh and hard to finish. I found myself dreading each drink more than the last. By itself, it's a rather standard saison, but for the price point, it is overshadowed by dozens of other saisons. There is nothing here that advances the style, unless you desire a rather painful take on DuPont saison.

This was purchased from a top tier local liquor store in the MPLS area that otherwise takes good care of the product, however, owing to the lack of bottle dating from the brewery, there's no way to tell if these are fresh or old.

 

Look: Hazy gold with a tower of fluffy head. Great retention and some lacing. Yeast sediment at base of bottle
Smell: Almost pilsner-like graininess with some yeasty aroma
Taste: Lightly grainy sweet, pronounced tartness, slightly peppery and lemony, moderate yet lingering herbal bitter finish. Fruity and floral notes seemed subdued compared to most saisons. Balance is fairly even between dryness and sweetness
Feel: Medium body, average ale mouthfeel. Honestly I expected a little more effervescence given the huge head

Overall: A pretty tasty saison, though a little different from what I expected. It seemed dominated by the grainy and hoppy notes with less of the fruity and floral character I tend to expect from saisons. Still, one of the better Minnesota farmhouse ales.

 

 

Good looking with a large and full white head with a rather quick settling out. This covers a dark gold mostly clear body that appears heavy.
Aroma is a nice mix of soft fruit (light and not citrus and maybe a little banana) and a complex spice. This weighs more towards the spice.
The flavor starts off like the aroma with the same mix of flavors. The finish is very dry and it's kicked of with a grassy/herbal hop flavor that moves to a strong bitterness. This is one of the more complex finishes I've had. It took be a bit to get used to it. It nearly makes it a "hoppy" beer as this lingers for a good long time.
Moderate to lighter body. Ample carbonation. The alcohol is there enough to be noticed as not a light drinker.
I tend to think of this style as a summer style. This certainly has a feel of something for the fall. Although it works well on this seasonably warm October day just fine.

 

 

Looks fantastic! A great golden color, with an opaque look.

The taste is surprisingly bready for a saison. As any saison it's quite sweet, however the sweetness is confined to the aftertaste. Which otherwise is quite subtle.

This is a very light saison, with minimal carbonation and a light body. The way I like it.

Boom Island hits a great balance between the sweetness of a traditional saison and malts. Would definitely drink again!