La Maison
Taxman Brewing Co.

Pours from a can a golden tan. Nice layer of foam. Light funk on the nose, bloomy cheese and horse blanket notes are all present. I’m liking the estery character on the sip, and the finish.

 

 

 

Now my 5th from Taxman, I'm still impressed. The saison can be tricky for the Belgo-inspired American crafter because the yeast has to be flexible enough to stimulate lots of different grains and, yet, still get along with the meal. Glad I found a 4-pack of their leading saison and will report some food pairings. But for today's purposes, I find La Maison is a master-crafted North American saison... that even uses some native hops to give terroir to this refreshing, balanced experience.

7/2/22 Today was a tough pairing taste: a spicy southwest veggie burger with mostly BBQ sauce and a side of steamed broccoli with a honey mustard sauce. Surprisingly, La Maison paired better with the honey mustard. I suppose I mistakenly thought that Indy, being near the heart of BBQ country, would support La Maison and tolerate the sweet spice of BBQ. Not so. Saisons are a versatile style at the table, but I also learned not to push the culinary envelope. Counting @ UnTappd.

 

Canned 1/19/22 room temp poured into a stemless wine glass. First from the style

L: dark honey, low/medium transparency. White head

S: citrus, summer fruit. Smells like an ipa that isn’t bitter

T: follows nose with much more peppery notes. Imagine replacing the bitters with black pepper in an ipa.

F: medium heavy, mild carbonation, slightly coating. Very nice.

O: I’m impressed being new to the style. It seems like a close relative to the ipa as I’ve alluded to multiple times. Hard to enjoy more than one though the citrus and pepper can get cloying fast, but overall I’m glad I gave it a try. I would classify it as a solid summer sipper. The price was great too.

12 ounce can into IPA glass, canned on 5/29/2020. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy golden yellow color with a 2 finger dense and rocky off white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, orange, citrus peel, pear, red apple, white grape, peppercorn, clove, pine, wheat, cracker, honey, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate peppery yeast spiciness; and pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, grassy bitterness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium body, and fairly crisp/clean finishing. Balanced bready/grainy malts, sticky hops, and some resins in the mouthfeel. Increasing hop resin dryness, with no astringency. Very drinkable, pretty refreshing. Minimal warming 7%. Might be Amarillo hops. Great balance of vibrant/dank hops and French Saison yeast, with a clean malt backbone. This held up incredibly well for being canned 2 years ago. Spot on base style example as expected of the brewery.

 

 

 

12 oz can, no canning date, into stange glass.

Light honey colored with a creamy 3 finger head that destroys the glass with puffy thick lace as it recedes.

Aroma is decidedly a very balanced mix of honey, clove, chamomile, and crisp malt. It's crisp and refreshing to the nose, and really seems to wake you up, even at 3 AM. I almost want to say I get some ginger ale vibes as well. I don't mind that at all. Very nice.

This is a smooth drinking beer to be sure. The 7% ABV is lying to my senses since it's so easy to drink. Crisp pale malt opens this up following with clove, pepper, honey, graham, banana, citrus peel, and white tea. The hops are there and almost become too obtrusive but just as that's about to happen, the floral and clove notes push them out of the way and everything holds hands. Again it has elements of ginger ale but doesn't quite taste like it. The honey is not sweet either, it brings balance to what otherwise may taste dusty or cask-y.

Feel is carbonated and popping, some dryness here and very minimal heat. Slight dryness on the finish, slight resins.

Overall, an incredible imperial Saison. Dangerous. I've had some Taxman stuff that is hit and miss, this one is right on the money. Very nicely done. For how little these 4 packs go for, it's such an easy choice. Would definitely buy another 4 pack if I saw it again.

Poured from the 12oz can into an imperial pint glass.

A: The beer is a hazy bright orange color topped with a 2 finger foamy off-white head.

S: Citrus, honey, spices, coriander, yeast, slight banana.

T: Honey, Belgian yeast throughout, pepper, citrus character, hops within like citrus rind, vanilla.

Overall: This is a solid beer, especially at the price point. It was 6$ for a 4 pack and really holds up. It definitely has a good Belgian character. I'd pick it up again for sure.

12oz can. Poured out a slightly cloudy, golden orange color with a small, tan head of foam. It smelled of yeast, esters and toasted caramel. Sweet caramel and toffee with a spicy/yeasty quality.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to my Happy Picking Up Where I Left Off During The Last New Beer Sundays (Week 726)! I have several more new CANs from Taxman BC, courtesy of @jkblr & this is my seCANd on this auspicious ocCANsion.

From the CAN: "ameri[CAN] farmhouse ale brewed with honey"; "Come home to La Maison, our 'house' tribute to the French farmhouse style. This sparkling saison features clover honey blended with earthy undertones and fragrant American hop notes of citrus, grapefruit and pine. Enjoy a sip of the summer season any time of year with this refreshing ale."; "Belgian Inspired [-] Ameri[CAN] Crafted"; "IBU{:] 25".

Before I begin my review, a disclaimer. I had the Gin Barrel-Aged version of this one before & I was less-than-impressed. I simply felt that it needed more time in the barrels to more fully beome infused with Gin flavor. It was a rare insCANce where I did not gush about one of their beers. I CAN only hope that the base beer fares better ...

I Crack!ed the vent open, but having read the Style description, it does not mention anything about haze or clarity so I went with a very slow, steady Glug, stopping when there was still a modicum of beer left in the CAN. If there are lees, I will have them separately. My efforts also required an in-glass swirl to raise just under two fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with modest retention. Color was an oh-so-faintly-hazy Golden-Amber (SRM = >5, < 7). Nose had a light barnyard-like funkiness, but this was aligned with the style. I could also smell the honey, which was kind of unexpected. I did not expect it to have such a presence. Sofa. So fa, so good. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but on the approach & definitely big for the style. The taste held a wide range of flavors from honey sweetness to a tangy breadiness with a marked funkiness.

This was not as full-on farmhouse Saison as, say a Fantome, but it was still evocative of the style. The style originated along the northern border of France with the southern border of Belgium. That is very rustic countryside, much like getting out into the Amish farmland here in Lancaster County, PA. And yet, this was where a LOT of combat took place during both WWI & WWII. It really gives me pause to imagine a ground war being fought across working farmland.

Enough wool-gathering! Back to the beer. It was a pretty fair-to-middling interpretation of the style. I do not know if they purposely dialed it down for American tastes, but it struck me as Saison with training wheels. That is not to say that it was "bad", per se, but it just lacked Ooomph! I was not overly blown away by its Gin Barrel-aged version, either. Finish was dry, but I just felt unfulfilled. I guess that my hang-up is that there are SO many better beers by them that this is just NOT indicative of how good they really are. YMMV.

Poured into a Taxman tulip glass. Look is a semi-clear golden color with a quick dissipating head. Smell is honey, hops, grass, Belgian yeast, and candy sugar mostly. Taste is honey, pepper, coriander, grassy hops, and Belgian yeast, all blended together well. Mouthful is very even, well blended, medium carbonation with a dry finish.

Once again, Taxman brews another top-quality resonably priced Belgian-style ale. This time they make a Farmhouse Ale, and it is a fine example of a Saison Ale. Also, I can get this beer for $7.99 a 4-pack-- making La Maison a winner in my book. Highly recommended!