The Elderflowers
Tahoe Mountain Brewing Co.

a barrel fermented saison from what i understand, done with elderflowers. i am coming to the realization that maybe i dont know what they taste like. i think i know what they should taste like, but the more beer i drink with them (its becoming increasingly common from cantillon to mikkeller to the states now), that maybe i really just dont know. i expect a delicate floral thing, sort of honey sweet, very mild, an accent flavor with maybe a little bitterness, but this is never what i get in the beer, and whatever they are supposed to impart always gets lots to wood or sour acidity or something else, and that may be the case here, even though this is a beer that could rightly be described as delicate itself. clear and heady, with a slightly sharp tangy bacterial nose, some bitterness that might be a little floral, but i am reaching for it. the oak is clean in the flavor, newish, not a bourbon or wine barrel it doesnt seem, some fresh lemon, clean lactic sourness, about as much grain character as it needs. the flowers may make this bitter, but the do little else, and while the saison itself is good (a touch too clean for my rustic proclivities), the beer overall underwhelms me as a use of elder flower. neat to have this (and so many of their other beers) in our market now, but this was somewhat less arousing than i wanted it to be... on tap at cedar creek pub.