Sleeveless Hoppy Black Saison
Three Magnets Brewing

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque black in the glass with a half finger khaki head with good retention and lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, light chocolate and coffee notes; .a hint of saison yeast. Flavor is mixture of dark toasted and lighter grainy malts, chocolate, hints of coffee, saison yeast; finishes with lingering lightly barnyard yeast, chocolate, toasty malt with a hint of char. Nice creamy medium body, great mouth feel for a farmhouse style ale. A quite unusual take on a saison, delivers what it promises, a hybrid of a black ale (but lightly hopped, not approaching a Cascadian black ale), and a classic grainy saison. It was a little disconcerting at first because the dark color and creamy body did not seem to fit the mildly funky farmhouse yeast and saison body, but this really grew on me while I drank it. The finish seems a little stark; the hops and bitterness from the dark malts are not supported as would be expected from a traditional heavier malt body and there is a little tartness that conflicts with the toasted malt (I'm not a fan of tart stouts and porters, so this is a personal preference). However, there is a unexpected, but interesting and satisfying interplay between the saison yeast and malt and the darker toasted malts that made this fun to drink. Odd, and a bit unbalanced in the finish, but a successful version of an unusual merged style.