Saison: Grisette Burgundy Barrel Aged
Partizan Brewery

 

Purchased from the brewery recently, coming in a 330ml slim brown bottle, bottle-conditioned; bottled on 26/09/2013, BB 26/09/2014, served lightly-chilled in Gulden Draak’s short-stemmed tulip-shaped sniffer.

A: very light in colour, almost like a “Berliner Weisse”-kind of pale straw, coming with very light haze, a thin off-white foamy head retreating in no time, and very mild carbonation.
S: savoury-acidic and bitter sweaty funk comes on top of old cider, oxidised starfruits, lemon, underlined by a deep and focused middle of sweetness. The old oaky, earthy and grapey hints from the “Burgundy Barrel” (I was told a Pinot Noir red wine barrel was used to age this beer, for about 4 months before bottling) stay true and fine in the background. A good swirl would bring up the tart and funky elements from the work of wild yeasts, with added aroma of old leather and more earthy woodiness. Multi-layered on the nose, fairly complex.
T: the softly effervescent entry is interestingly “neutral” in taste, with some watery malts, a citrus-peel-ish tannic feel, rather (surprisingly) restrained savoury-acidic funks, soon followed by semi-chewy tannic, dry and even slightly spicy undertones as from the barrel-ageing and also a high level of attenuation due to the work of wild yeasts.
M&O: soft on the carbonation, thin-bodied, very weak in flavour with many missing pieces which are simply conspicuous by their absence… As with the other Grisette that I’ve tried from the same brewery, I wonder if second/third wash is actually used to provide the beer base, without knowing that, even if this assumption was correct, a “Grisette” farmhouse ale really was meant to taste like this… Don’t know, the oak-ageing seems to deliver lots of promises on the nose, whereas the end product fails big time on the palate.