The Raspberry
The FarmHouse Brewery

From a growler, filled at the brewery two nights ago.

As it pours, it looks like dilute pink lemonade, but as the volume builds in the glass it becomes orangey-red, lightly hazy, with light , quickly-dissipating off-white head.

The smell is acetic, like fruity pickle juice, with some slight grape and oak aromas becoming apparent as it warms. Also , a faint whiff of fresh,crackery malt. Smells like a sour/wild ale, +/-. (I do like that . ;) )

Taste is ....well.... sour/wild ale . Not sure if that is intentional (probably) , but it works. Initially there is some tangy , but light, grape and dried raspberry, quickly followed by some woody funk. "Bandaid" is the closest I can come to it, for now, with some tannin .(It's better than that sounds.) Then the fruit becomes a bit more jammy , just as the typical saison spiciness comes in . A bit of dry woody/bread crust flavor lingers on the front of the tongue, while some jammy sourness lingers at the back . I'm also getting a salty sensation near finish, and lingering after. Not absolutely sure this is from the beer , or from the beer liberating residual salt from the tortilla chips of a half-hour ago, but it seems like the beer. ?????

Feel is light, with moderate, very,very fine carbonation, that is initially mild, and becomes pleasantly sharp at finish, lingering awhile. There is a drying feel on the front of the tongue after finish, with a sour/mucilaginous/jammy feel at the back.

While nominally a saison, this comes across as a sour/wild ale-gose hybrid, with some of the (yeast-derived?) spiciness that would be expected . All-in-all, it's quite good, especially as it warms. Just takes some mental adjustment , away from the saison expectation, to what it actually is. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.