Saison De Clementine
New Braunfels Brewing Company

$ 14.44(Including tax and discount)/500 mL bottle ($ 0.854/oz) from Spec’s #100, DeZavala, San Antonio. Reviewed 3/13/19.
No date other than “Blend 3”. On shelf in store. Stored at 42 degrees and served at 42 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 4.
Body – Light orange, clear, effervescent.
Head – Large (Maximum 5.5 cm, aggressive center pour), off-white, low density, average retention, diminishing to a three mm ring and a thin partial layer.
Lacing – None.
First pour – Light yellow, clear.
Aroma – 3 – Predominantly weak clementine with some weaker wheat.
Flavor – 4 – Begins nicely with tons of lactic acid and a little fruit flavor. No alcohol (6 % ABV), no dimethylsulfide, no diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, almost sticky, lively carbonation.
Impression and interpretation – 3.5 – The amount of lactic acid makes this close to undrinkable – close, but not quite there if you like sours in general.

 

 

 

 

a really weird beer, wild and explosive when we pop the cap, artfully labeled and something i had pretty high hopes for, my first from these guys. its sort of a saison, sort of wit type, curious beer. it gushes a bit, but then finally settles enough to pour, a super turbid pale beer with a lot of sediment, a spritzing head and some creaminess evident, clearly wheat based. aroma is heavy clementine, tart and piquant at first with the wild yeast almost coming off as kumquat rather than the sweeter clementine, really high acid though for sure, bacterial, lactic and overdeveloped for sure, but pleasant too. a little cheese in the nose but cleaner in the flavor. they must have used a ton of fruit here, as the citrus peel and juice is really sharp and intense here, like seltzer or even soda, very acidic and not funky at all, but with a cool belgian sort of note maybe from some clean saison yeast, but the fruit is the leading flavor agent by a mile. i could see this being refreshing if it was dialed back a little bit in all of these aspects, but for now its pretty intense and astringent and not real drinkable. interesting enough to have me wanting more from these guys despite its amateurish edges...