The Lion and Other Beasts
Mad Fritz

Fairly hazy dull amber with a tall khaki foam head.

Ahh, there's some delightfully bone dry saison zip. This comes as close to herbally bitter, even minerally and lightly oaky as they've gotten to Jester King, and similarly, without being heavily yeasty or phenolic. It's refreshingly balanced and complex. There's even a unique hint of yuzu in the nose, while that translates more as grapefruit pith in taste.

This is one if those big big surprises, I would summrize: the sour if you don‘t lije sour beers. Grain is barley and some wheat. The yest is very noticeable a belgian saison style, and the aging in oak barrels shows also. Light, fruity, light acid, one of those beers with champagne character. Amazing color and foam. Loved it!

Ok. The description on the bottle calls itself a "Grisette Ale". So, I had to look it up "It's a relatively old beer style with roots in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the French border. Its defining characteristics are, like the beer itself, somewhat hazy, due to the fact that little information about grisettes survived into the present day." So, while enjoy saisons, they are not my favorite style. This beer blew me away. It pours a hazy yellow with a decent head. Smell is light and earthy, with a taste that is so refreshing that I will look for this beer again and again. With the light alcohol, this is a perfect summer beer. I was initially a little disappointed with the start of my beer club experience with Mad Fritz, but the last two packages were amazing!

A great bear for a hot day. Fantastic citrus aroma.

 

a beer of enormous complexity and quality, but also quite subtle in its approach. i have been so impressed with everything from mad fritz, albeit my sample size is small, i just totally dig the focus on terroir and the attention to detail! this one is a grisette type, aged with brett brux in old chardonnay barrels. its not as wild and out there as that might sound, with a really earthy and round feeling dry cereal grain base, wheaty and crackery and doughy, rustic but clean and tidy too, with great body for its low alcohol content. the yeast is saison first, belgian and farmy without being overly funky. even with the brett coming in, its more mellow than a lot of these, more slow and patient, less fruity, i like that. i get a soft spice here among the yeasts and malts, maybe some rye in the mix, this really has a lot of character. i dont get much from the hops, almost a noble type green and grassy complexion, but its well behind the other elements to me. excellent carbonation, layering of delicate flavors, and overall build on this. a simple sort of farm brew, but something really special when its allowed to be. i cant get enough of these guys right now, all of this beer feels so inspired to me. good energy when i drink it. really dig it!