1976
Blackberry Farm Brewery

750 mL bottle. Pours a hazy golden body. Smells of banana all over. Behind banana is some metallic and mineral notes, fruity notes, and damp yeastiness. Tastes as much of banana as it smells. Pineapple fruit flavor and a fair bit of doughy malt sweetness. Back end is earthy bitter and yeasty. A touch of cardboard bitterness. It's on the high end of just about everything I can tolerate in a saison. Banana, sweetness, and alcohol. But in the end, I like it.

 

 

Poured into a tulip.
The appearance was a nice looking hazy golden amber to copper color with a foamy white head gliding off fairly quick. Some lace but really not much there.
The aroma had a blend of banana, ginger, hay, earthiness, some lemongrass, mineral water and some Belgian yeasty spiciness.
The flavor took all of those prior mentioned aromas to blend together semi-sweetly with some earthiness. Slight aftertaste of ginger, lemongrass, Belgian yeastiness and banana.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Some dryness. Moderate carbonation. Good ABV and a stealthy banana to hay to ginger earthy finish.
Overall, good beer and great year (the year I was born!). I would have this again. Might be a cool beer to have again when I turn 50.

In full celebration of their inception, the Blackberry farm commemorates 42 years of excellence with a beer that gets them back to their farmhouse roots. An imperial saison brings the fruit, spice, character and charm with the quality that's tough to match.

Simply called 1976, the frothy, heady beer pours with an expansive champagne-like appearance, catching the eye with a hazy golden glow. A spicy perfume adorns the rim while taking the shape of clove, ginger and dried fruit peels. Hints of fresh dough, white wine and hay add an underlying scent of complexity to the nose ahead of taste. The doughy sweetness plays boldly on the early palate, hitting the tongue with fresh grains, a pep of honey and sourdough.

And as the bubbles clash with the tongue, the carbonation pulls from the beer and lifts it to diminish any unnecessary sweetness and to highlight the beer's fruit and spice balance. Orange peel, lemon peel, grapefruit and melon all create a strong but dried fruit ester presence before the yeast spices of ginger, clove, lemongrass, tea and sassafras offset the fruit and balance the scantly lingering malts. Moderately bitter, the finish is peppery, herbal and of dried hay once more.

A light and playful vinous tartness rounds out the complexity of the medium bodied farmhouse ale. An alcohol spice seemingly of gin aids the yeast spices and wine-like acidity in drying the beer for an effortless but flavorful finish. A linger of fruit peel, herbs and hay linger into a medium length afterglow of refinement and reflection.

ive been wanting to try this one for awhile, but the price has been a turn off, i cant keep buying 20 dollar beers all the time, i hope prices of all heady high quality beer comes down before long, this is bankrupting me. this is a great saison, but im not sure it commands this kind of price. frothy from the bottle, pale golden in color and looking lighter than its strength had me thinking. tons of belgian yeast to this and a little bit of more rustic farmhouse type yeast as well. pear, banana, white wine, clove, ginger, and honey all come to mind in the esters here, this is very yeast driven. as spicy as it is fruity here. the malt is simple, wheaty, slightly sweet, for a moment, but it gets back near dry at the end. culinary herbs, candied orange, toffee, green tea, lemongrass, white pepper, new oak, candy sugar, and faint coriander are all there in the flavor, yet for whatever reason, this doesnt taste all that complex to me, even with all of that going on. awesome body and flush carbonation, a very well made saison. really tasty stuff, maybe lacking a distinguishing element from the rest of their portfolio, their beers always seem so unique to me. this one less so, but its still fantastic stuff.

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a hazy medium golden amber with a two finger white head with great retention and thick lacing. Aroma of grainy malt, saison yeast, a little earthy and slightly tart. Flavor is a full bodied grainy malt that emphasizes the grain rather than the more bitter husks, hints of citrus and citrus rind, mild farmhouse funk, finishes with pleasant mixed whole grain, hints of stone fruit and citrus and a little hop bitterness. Medium bodied with sharp, peppery carbonation. This one made me a little nervous on opening and smelling it; there was a tart note to both. The saison flavor, however is typical of Blackberry Farm with an emphasis on grain rather than funk or sourness. A little bit of citrus tartness, but overall my favorite style of saison, full of grain and farmhouse yeast. The higher ABV is well hidden, and left me surprised half way through the bottle. I'm intrigued by the name of this one and that it has more robust alcohol than the other fine saisons from Blackberry, but could find no other information on this one on their website. These Blackberry Farm bottles show up rarely and in small quantity, but are always worth hunting down.

A: prominent, creamy 3 finger head with good retention and decent lacing, beautiful and hazy copper orange color
S: hint of noble hop spice off the bat with hints of citrus that follow, some banana here as well (the aroma could be stronger here)
T: immediate spice and yeasty sweetness with a clean/neutral bitterness, lots of citrus, there is also a very full biscuity, bready quality to the beer and a good deal of zest
M: full bodied but dry
O: not my favorite one of their beers but a good outing no less

 

 

Poured into a Teku. Somewhat hazy golden-orange color with a large, rocky white head. Nice doughy malt, orange rind, and spicy floral notes on the nose. More rich-tasting than most Saisons I've had, likely due to the Imperial nature, but still with a crisy, dry finish. Floral, spicy, a bit funky, with more prominent bready flavor. Not boozy at all, but in this case, I do not think that the Imperial aspect adds much. Still a wonderful beer though.