Robyn
Middle Brow Beer Co.

Bottled summer 2014; drank 10/18/14 @ the Yarchives.

Murky yellow hue.

HUGE white head (careful pouring!); a curtain of tree-rung lace.

Banana & mild clove nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Strong banana flavor up front with mild clove notes. A cinnamon bite settles on the lips.

A decent, forgettable saison.

I liked this beer. Had some funk but a little NEIPA mouthfeel.

Appearance: Pours a pale & cloudy orange color with a massive white head that lingers.
Aroma: Getting Belgian yeast of clove, bubblegum, & vanilla. Maybe some mandarin orange and peach stonefruit on the nose.
Flavor: Lots white pepper and funk on the front. Slightly sweaty and rubbery. Turns into a yeasty and grainy malt profile. Finishes with a slight vanilla-orange citrus sweetness. Mild alcohol warmness.
Feel: Heavier bodied and creamy on the mouthfeel. Good carbonation, but not a match for the creamy mouthfeel. Has that nice boozy creaminess that reminds me of a tripel. Finishes only slightly sweet though.

Overall: A pretty good saison that leans slightly toward a tripel as it finishes slightly sweet. It has somewhat of white pepper yeast profile that I don't particularly like. Sort of reminds me of a Tank 7. It's not on a Tank 7 level, but still a well-made and traditional Chicago saison. Leans a little too heavy and sweet for me. Tone it down a notch and it could be pretty darn good. Not my go-to saison but if it's the only saison on the menu I'd definitely drink it.

 

 

 

chicago beer fest

 

 

 

What a pleasant surprise !
On two counts.
First, this is contract brewed in Chicago... and while I might have seen Middle Brow in a Chicago store, I never bought any.
I found Robyn at San Francisco's City Beer store. (It has an excellent collection and, with some irony, I am having my last beer in SF before catching a flight back home to Chicago. Go figure.)
Second, this brewer actually gets very close to getting the style right. While Robyn may look like a saison, its nose reminds me of a BPA. But the taste seems within the saison style's range; nice variety of grains, yeastiness, appropriate spicing for food and spritzy. Not much to interfere with food. And as testament to that, it went great with focaccia.
I am very much looking forward to Having Robyn again... and other Middle Brow beers.

12/6/17 Still looking for other Middle Brow beers, I found a 4 pack of Robyn. No change in the rating or review. OK consistency for a young brewer brewing in the saison tradition (which is hard to achieve.)
12/23, Robyn went particularly well with a peppery pasta sauce of garlic and olive oil.

3/17/18 just finished another 4 pack (probably one a week.) This is getting to be my go-to table beer of which I have only a few. I did notice this recipe is now brewed at Motor Row. Possibly less fizz, but the taste seems similar.

1/10/20 While I've had Robyn several times in the intervening 22 months, I've also had Middle Brow's pizza several times and, BA tells me, 8 more of their beers... most of them at their brewpub. The dominant theme is yeast, some interesting breads, some thoughtful ales. But, the key to making Robyn better is to find that Belgian saison yeast that makes this lively. Robyn simply is not. It goes great with bread. It is refreshing and cleanses the palate of butter-fat for more bread. But, its yeast is not on a par with the great saisons. While I love Middle Brow very much as my neighborhood brewer and baker, a better yeast might make Robyn world-class. In the hopes of that, I've reduced its rating some.

2/11/20 My last can of this recent four pack seemed the most delicious of the bunch... certainly richest in the mouth. Is this a yeast consistency factor ? Let me think about that over the next 4 pack.

 

 

 

 

Tasted in a 12 oz snifter from draught at Firkin on March 21, 2016.

 

Beautiful carbonation and color. Smell is slightly malty yet a bit citrus. Taste has the classic Belgian notes of citrus, malt and slight hop. One of my top 5 Chicago-land beers (that's a hard list to make!)

 

my first beer from these guys and i really did not care for it. on tap in downtown chicago, perhaps it was near the end of the keg, as the beer was cloudy and loaded with sediment beyond what is even reasonable in this style, and it didnt have much head on it. murky brass colored beer, not sexy. it smells alright, white winey and yeasty. belgian driven, with lots of fruity high notes in it, bubblegum and apricot come to mind, over the top. the grain base seems more like a hefe than a blonde ale, wheaty for sure, and with some grit and creaminess both at the same time. the flavors just dont come together in it. not farmy enough on the yeast front to balance the belgian, not well enough carbonated to trudge through all the yeast sediment and grain residuals, and frankly it just doesnt taste as good as it could, and probably should. an underwhelming introduction to middle brow, who i had never heard of before this one. not inspired here to go rushing out to track down their other flavors. this is sloppy, at least it was in my glass...