Aqua Predator
Off Color Brewing

 

semi-translucent golden pour, visible carbonation lingered a bit. Similar aroma to saisons I have had previously. Reminds me of a drier champagne style. Not my typical style, but good beer.

One of the more tolerable saisons I've had.

 

 

 

Taste: herbal, yeast, wheat, slight sweet, spiced, bright hops. Same with the nose. Pale golden hue, semi hazy, white head, some lace. Medium/light body. A hopped forward version of a Farmhouse.

Released 9/16/21; drank 10/3/21 @ the Yarchives.

Cloudy yellow appearance.

A violent pour yielded a HUGE, noisy white head; decent lace.

Lemon, mild clove & faint wheat notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Lemon & banana flavors up front; dry wheat & faint clove notes on the finish.

A more intense saison; not sure it's an improvement, but it's interesting.

 

 

 

12oz bottle, enjoy by 24Dec18. Effervescent pale golden body capped with a thin white head. Spicy farmhouse yeast aroma with pepper, citrus, and herbal hops. Nice meld of flavors with notes of spicy, earthy, and herbal farmhouse yeast, modest pine & citrus, honey, and biscuity malt. Medium body, lively carbonation, balanced finish with a slight tartness. Creative variation of Apex Predator. Glad to try one!

 

12oz bottle with enjoy by date 15 Jan 18 pours a clear yellow-gold body and floats a 1in fluffy, soapy, white head causing me to stop pouring to avoid overflow, and leaves a spotted lacing. Constant rising bubbles that can even be seen through the murk after finishing the pour.

Aroma is clove and grassiness.

Flavor adds a tart citrus and the grass gets dank.

Mouthfeel is soft lighter-medium, with a slight carbonation tingle.

Overall a nice change of pace beer for me.

 

 

 

12oz bottle, undated but purchased fresh from the brewery, poured into an Off Color cervoise. Enjoyed on 10.17.16, reviewed from Tasting Journal.

The beer pours a pale golden straw color, hazy and cloudy with a firm finger of white head, little to no retention which yields some spotted lace. The aroma offers plenty of earthy noble hops, light grassiness, hop spice, yeastiness which brings out some floral character while a light breadiness lingers. Lots of hops leap out of the glass, very green, earthy and somewhat spicy, peppercorn comes out well, breadiness and yeastiness play well together with an herbal finish. The mouthfeel is nice, coating with lively carbonation and a medium body while the finish is very dry and crisp.

Verdict: A nice fresh hop saison from Off Color that has a more tame hop forward approach than Apex Predator, which works very well. It's a bit softer, gentler and more rounded, though still a bit too hoppy and bitter for my liking when it comes to a saison.

 

 

Off Color has brewed, by my count, nine renditions of Predator. Only one has been archived. So the base saison seems quite versatile and, obviously, a good base for a successful line.

That said, the Aqua rendition is not as good as the original Apex or several of its offspring.
While many aficionados like fresh-hopped beer, I'm not one.
Hops should play with the malt. Fresh hops tend to play on top of the malts; concealing the subtleties in the second largest ingredient of ale. While experiments are good, I prefer Apex Predator and several of its offspring over Aqua Predator.

12/12/18 Had Aqua on a blow-out sale (i.e. not fresh), but all things considered.... no change in rating or review. The original Predator is superior.

9/16/21 Had the latest release of Aqua as a mouth refresher before dinner. I'm convinced I found its proper role as a three season aperitif. I've edited the above review and am keeping count over @ Untappd.

 

Opened two bottles yesterday on the day I bought the 4 pack and the day the bottle shop got them in stock. First one had almost no carb. Second one had carb for about 1 minute. Banana/clove Belgian yeast character is really the only flavor I got. Getting no hop character. The mouthfeel really impacts the drinking experience for a Saison with little to no carb.

Pale gold, slight haze with the yeast poured in, otherwise bright and clear like a lager. Compact layer of foam, one finger in width. Minor spotty lacing and lasting surface coverage.

Aroma of Belgian yeast esters, pear and white pepper. Smells pretty much like Apex.

Taste is similar to the aroma, yeast driven with pear and white pepper notes, dry finish with some light hop bitterness. Lean and light bodied, crisp and refreshing with ample carbonation.

Wet hopped beers are often subtle by nature, but this is almost beyond subtle, to the point where any flavor or aroma derived from the wet Crystal hops is virtually nonexistent.

On tap. Poured a dirty, hazy grapefruit color into the glass. Very little head which all but disappeared immediately. No lacing, no bubbles, probably because it's from a firkin. It looks like juice and it smells like...passion fruit, which makes sense. It also tastes like tropical juice with little to no hop taste but a bit of malt. A very light, juicy mouthfeel. Way to sweet for me, but a worthy effort by a great brewer.