Mr. Turtlebee
Woodland Empire Ale Craft

Draft at Woodland Empire. Medium, dark golden,small ring of head. Aroma leans towards the yeast, taste leans towards the malts. Pretty potent for a saison.

a strong saison, done in collaboration with the ram restaurant and brewery just down the road, which is where i had this on tap. the beer is fine, its boozy and estery and not as refined as some of the better woodland empire beers i have had so far, not bad, but almost like it needs a hook, something is missing, and its just like wheaty soup without some hops, fruits, funky yeast, something is needed here for sure. the yeast is kind of generic to me, full flavored for sure, allowed to run here, but its nothing new, and thats where i generally start with a saison type, the fermentation profile just isnt very compelling here, and with the booziness, its kind of an odd balance. notes of white wine, pear, and rock candy, with a big fruity sweetness running through it and some earthy density from all the wheat, a raw element there which i kind of like, and the sturdiness and structure are fine, but it needs to be drier and i think some brett would help give it the extra dimension it needs. its cool these guys got together to make a beer, and i guess the execution is fine, but the recipe is a little brutish and could use some nuance built in. not bad, not great.