Far Star
Galaxy Brewing Company

 

this is a really ambitious beer, easily the most thoughtful i have seen from these guys in a couple of visits, and while it may seem a little amateurish, like a first stab at this sort of thing, the beer overall is very good, and i enjoyed this quite a lot. they got the brett part right. through the slightly hazy light red liquid i smell the woody musty mature brett, its not overly complex for all that went in to it, but the yeast part is really nice, a little bacterial pucker here to make the mouth water, and some red berries, maybe a little citrus too, lighter than it looks. the flavor is great, a fairly sturdy malt base to this for a saison type, crystal and caramel and a warm baked thing that goes great with the wood. red wine and red fruit, raspberries, cherries, currants, grapes, its fruity for sure, seemingly mostly from the wine the barrels previously housed, and then all of a sudden drying from the brett, which has a light peppery character and enough acidity to cut through the grain weight of this. i like the way its all wrapped up in a woody winey hug at the end, it seems warming and hearty that way for a beer of such modest strength. i dont get a ton of hops on this, but i liked it a lot overall!

Sweet tarts and cabbage patch elixir!!

 

Pours a slightly hazy, see-through, reddish, bright orange, with medium white head. Quickly dissipating, leaving a thin ring of lacing .

Aroma is grape/cherry , with a slight bit of malt and Brett funk (composted manure?). The funk becomes more apparent as it warms. Overall smells like a kriek , with a little funk. The "Smell" rating reflects what is typical for something like this, not that there is anything off about it. Wouldn't expect anything particularly enticing. Actually less-bad than most Brett offerings. :)

The initial taste is an undefined sour fruit (cherry + current +? ) This is followed by a (dry) red wine flavor> oak tannin > Brett funk > sour lemon > (tiny) sweet/candied lemon. I first had this 2 weeks ago, on draft at Homer Winterfest. The lemon from the LemonDrop hops was more distinct , and apparent, then, especially the last, sweet bit. Now out of a bottle at home, the lemon has mellowed and blended a bit. No preference either way, both manifestations are good.

Feel is moderately thin, slightly oily, with fine, non-prickly carbonation.

Overall I'd call this "quite good" but not quite "great". This is described as a saison by the brewer, but the impression is that of a sour/wild ale, albeit with a lighter touch of Brett, and more complex flavor, than that usually entails. Given that it was $10/25.4 oz, considerably less than most sour/wild ales,this is very worthwhile if you like sours. The first brewing of this(that I know of?) . Hope they give this one a permanent slot in the rotation.