Honeydew
Night Shift Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Pours a hazy amber color with a nice head that leaves some shards of lace

Smell: Bready and yeasty, with honeydew notes

Taste: Bready, with the yeast adding a spicy character; the honeydew arrives in the middle and balances the other flavors

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation

Overall: The honeydew flavors are well-integrated with the Saison elements and add a real distinction to this beer

 

 

 

 

 

Amber colored body with nice pillowy head. Loads of fruit on the nose. Just immense fruitiness present on this beer. The flavor is a bit odd. I don't get much saison quality. I do get a tropical fruitiness but it isn't really in balance. It isn't sweet, but it just hasn't married itself to the base beer. I couldn't really figure out where this beer is headed, but I appreciate the fruit flavor that the honeydew provided.

 

 

 

750ml bottle

A) Pours with a finger thick head. Creamy, tight, sticky lacing. Hazy amber colored body.
S) Hop aromas - grapefruit. All citrus. Subtle hints of the honeydew.
T) Earthy. Peppery. Notes of orange peel. Hop bite in the finish and aftertaste. Honeydew is weak and nearly non-existent in the flavor profile.
M) Medium body. Dry. Slightly tannic.
O) A decent saison. Needs to warm. 40ish is too cold and suppresses some of the flavors. The honeydew could use a higher concentration, especially since it's called Honeydew.

Generally: We're off to a bad start. Fully 5inches of head, and it isn't going anywhere, so I can neither smell nor taste this beer until it calms down... It isn't calming down, so I'm just going to fight through the head.

The Pour: She's a looker. Fairly dark for a saison, but chromatically in tune. I assume the color comes from the malt, but I don't taste much malt. Anyway, looks like honey frizzante.

Face in the glass: This beer smells darn good, but it's subtle. I get a lot of peppery notes and, once I've worked past them, some very nuanced notes of melon and slate in the background. It's hard to pin this one down, but it smells pretty good. When I hit it again, for the fifth time, my first impression is sour and yeasty, in a good way, with a nice hoppy cellar door.

Temperature: I began colder, but this beer sings its song at 50 degrees. It improved consistently with warming and seemed to hit its mark at 50. Even better at 55...

With Regard to Taste: It's a very good beer, and I applaud the honeydew melon incorporation. Subtlety will be the popular death of this beer. If such a death is in the cards, that is. If you're not willing to take the time with this beer, you'll miss it and will experience a vaguely spicy saison with barely perceptible melon notes. That's one way of saying that this beer is not a knockout; another way of putting it would be to say that Night Shift have missed the mark.

Epitoma: There's a great deal of distance between stylistically faithful and innovative when it comes to moving forward with a brew. More often than not, the former is achieved and the latter is merely winked at. Honeydew tastes like a saison sweetened with honeydew melon, but there is nothing going on here that merits much more than a nod.

Note: Ehh.

Serving type: Bottle.