Le Petite Dragon
Dragon's Gate Brewery

really cool selection of belgian styles in this one of a kind little brewery, this is their house saison from what i gather, a somewhat simple beer in the glass, but subtly unique, certainly enough to stand out, rustic and earthy and made with local honey and hops from their property, which is awesome, the kind of terroir i always admire in this style, even if the beer is slightly less exciting on the fermentation side than i was hoping for, given all else that they do and how farmhouse this place kind of feels and where its set, this seems like a rather generic yeast strain, estery and warmly deployed, not a bad thing, and the beer is pretty well refined, but the ferment makes it samey when it should be more distinctive. lightly rusty colored, new penny tone and shine, high fizzy white headed, rather clear for the style. nose and taste have some light florals from the honey, some grassy herbal hops and late onset bitterness, light malt toasty character too, faint sweetness there, and spicy notes from the yeast from white pepper to toasted coriander, finally some white wine, poached pear, and elderflower to finish, faint astringency and belgian character, but i think this is a french yeast, very familiar. the carbonation is great, the overall texture is too, some wheaty body to this sort of creaming it up, and nice and dry at the end but not at the expense of the honey note. clever and subtle, not really hoppy but their own hops make it unique, trace sulfur, drinkable, but i wanted more from the ferment. still, this place is awesome!