Saison
Drop-In Brewing Company

picked this up at the brewery when we visited, a bottle conditioned saison, and a pretty tasty, drinkable, and in many ways ambitious beer from these guys, who seemed pretty old school to me. this one is vibrant and delicate and flavorful, not at all generic on the ferment which is rare for a clean one, and they did a nice job with the bottle conditioning, glad i scored this, its among my favorites of their beers we tried on our trip. just a little color to this, light orange with a super airy wispy white head with bubbles of all sizes, really pretty look to this, off clear but not messy at all, the head retention is glorious and this has a ton of carbonation throughout, perfect for the style. nose of spicy belgian type yeast, unexpected for some reason, but this does have obvious belgian tones, ripe banana, white pepper, clove, and dried herbs, fermentation forward but with some hops, a sturdy wheat base, and some neat high tones in it, white wine comes to mind, summery without being that light. the flavor is cool too, floral up front, a little more subtle than the nose until it warms, green grape and pear, light citrus peel, and a peppery back end, nice balance, on the dry side but not to the bone, and with subtle nuttiness from the grain. i like the yeast in this a lot, its lightly french too, maybe a blend of strains, seems like a workhorse, and all the esters are favorable. the bottle conditioning should also be mentioned, really well done, and i wished all the draft we had at the brewery had this texture, its so fluffy and excited feeling, adds a lot of life to the beer and is essential for enjoyment at this level. a fine specimen here, one they should be proud. very drinkable and in some ways one of the better clean (non wild or bretty) saisons ive had this year, nice to have one thats not the same old ferment. id buy this again!