Crystal Sync
Grimm Artisanal Ales

 

 

 

 

I like the idea, but at the end of the day was a bit murky in look as well as smell and flavor. Decent overall, but far from my favorite Grimm I have tried to date.

 

Love grimm, love saisons, but this one disappointed. The feel was great, let's get that right, the contrasting fluffy lightness of the dry hopping vs the full and heavy yeasts was spellbinding. The taste was bland, with some tea, yeast, and lemon, but that was about it. Smell was lemon and lavender cleaning products. Not bad, but I have come to expect greatness from grimm

 

Poured into a tulip.
The appearance was a nice looking dark yellow-ed paper color with a small cap of white foamy head. It softly slid off and didn't leave much lace.
The aroma had some sweet Earl grey tea character up front with some pomme-like fruity effects rolling all around in the mix. Some peppercorn, banana and white cracker throw themselves into the mix. Light funky to herbal and earthy blended character.
The flavor yields to the sweetness of it all but also adding a touch of the peppercorn spiciness to enhance the taste. Mild aftertaste of Earl grey tea, orange pulp, banana, red apples and white cracker.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation and ABV felt appropriate. Smooth yet dry finish from the tea character.
Overall, very nice saison well worthy of coming back to.

 

 

 

My first from Grimm, so I will defer to the two long reviews who seem to know the brewer well... which is important in evaluating how well that brewer does in the difficulties of the Belgian tradition.

Crystal Sync's Looks are a bit off-putting, too murky. Smells are full-on esters: citric fruits and those that work on wheat, like banana. Tastes are fine, but I get the Earl Grey's drying affect at the end. And in the mouth? Soft, soft, dry, soft.

I Had Crystal Sync with Indian leftovers on the recommendation of "The Brewmaster's Table" that this style went well with that kitchen's milder side. Possibly true. But I need another saison to be sure. Some saisons are delicate, like Crystal Sync. Other saisons are bold... like the Indian kitchen. The subtleties of the two can meet, but not in just one of my non-scientific experiments.

22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled in 5/2018. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy medium golden yellow color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and rocky white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big lemon, lime, orange, peach, pear, melon, red apple, black tea, coriander, peppercorn, clove, light banana, wheat, cracker, white bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of fruity/spicy yeast, tea, earthy hops, and moderate pale/wheat malts; with great strength. Taste of big lemon, lime, orange, peach, pear, melon, red apple, black tea, coriander, peppercorn, clove, light banana, wheat, cracker, white bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Moderate peppery yeast spiciness and herbal/floral/grassy bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of lemon, lime, orange, peach, pear, melon, red apple, black tea, coriander, peppercorn, clove, light banana, wheat, cracker, white bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, tea, earthy hops, and moderate pale/wheat malt flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and zero astringent hop/spice flavors after the finish. Moderately crisp/clean finishing. Moderate increasing dryness from bitter/spiciness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth and moderately bready/grainy/sticky balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 6.3%. Overall this is an excellent dry hopped/spiced saison! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, tea, earthy hops, and moderate pale/wheat malt flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink with the moderately bitter/spicy/drying finish. Was expected some wild character initially, because of all of their sours I've had previously; but was not the case. 100% classic rustic saison yeast complexity; with great balance of earl grey tea, earthy hops, and pale/wheat malts. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example.

 

i had way higher hopes for this one, a saison with tea, two things i have not really known grimm to do before, and i thought it would be awesome, but really its pretty strange, hard to drink a lot of, and underwhelming compared with the high standards they have set across their portfolio of beers. this is more belgian than anything, not hardly funky or rustic at all, which was unexpected, and its just estery and too warm fermented to me, over developed and dominant belgian phenols, pear and lemon cleaner, taffy and rock candy, botanical and herbaceous, with the tea adding a floral element and a little bitterness, but lost a little to the belgian element as well. its got some tartness, but i dont really want that, and would gladly trade it in for some mature brett. instead its pink bubblegum and air freshener from the yeast. the tea is the saving grace of this, adding some depth above the grain and carrying a light fruity note along with its botanical bitterness. its fresh beer, the idea seems sound, but i just dont care for this one, its not saisony enough for me, not even close...

edit: better in the bottle than on tap, its cleaner, fresher, and the tea stands out as unique a little more to me. i really didnt know what to expect after not liking it on tap very much, but from the bottle its vastly superior, not sure why. bright and fresh, the tea working well with the malt and the yeast, hoppy too. interesting and still kind of weird, but more enjoyable from this format. raising a couple of scores to reflect.

edit: a year in the bottle has done this some favors. its still a little overly estery, but the tea has held up well and seemingly integrated better with the hops in here. carbonation seems higher now too, and the whole thing is almost refreshing. better than i gave it credit for being the first time around, but still not one of the more compelling grimm beers out there...

 

 

interesting brew - some earthy and mineral notes, lemon, bubblegum, slight funk and notes of grass and hay, a definite herbal type thing going on as well. decent!