Saison w/ Syrah
Standard Brewing

this bottle is actually labeled sovereign, their sister brewery that did the saisons and wild stuff but has since closed, enjoyed at standard with the crew, cannot add beers to that listing anymore with it being closed, so here it is. neat beer, 2023 vintage, first use grapes, lots of color and tannins and flavor, some nice bretty funk, a bit of oak on it too, well mature now and nicely conditioned up in the bottle. jewel flamingo pink, fizzy but not holding its head real well, some body and higher color saturation, looks neat in the glass. the nose is jammy and vinous both, i get grapes as such but also grapes as wine, rose and springy, some neat terroir in there, and some cool other fruitiness, pie cherry, red currant, even raspberry and cranberry, but also a lot of fermentation character, subtle sulfur at first, then emerging brett and some lightly bacterial twang, lemon pucker, some acetic too, but not super harsh, wood softens it and adds a lot. there are notes of cedar and clay minerality in the flavor, lots of fruit and seems syrah specific to me, more washington than france of course. light spiciness, some terroir to it, white pepper, sage herbal character too, wood and grape tannins together make it grippy, some sourness even to the almost flemish range, less classic saison esters but still with that minor belgian note. berries and wet soil and new wood at the end, lovely fruit intensity, nice use of the grapes overall in a saison that can handle it. well done, wishing only for more carbonation and the continuation of the sovereign brand...