Oak Fermented Transfiguration
Holy Mountain Brewing Company - Interbay Brewery + Taproom

Slightly cloudy pale amber to dark gold with a creamy collar leaving mound-shaped lace.

Smell is really funky stinky cheese with wet wood, sweaty feet, sewer water and cashew paste. Hoo-wee!

Taste is barnyard funk, hay, corn, orange, mint and a hint of phenolic spice.

Easily the least favorite of our visit. I'm not sure if the oak fermentation worked well here, and I hope that poor foudre isn't worse off from this powerful funk.

 

not sure if all of this is oaked, or if we encountered a special oak fermented edition of this saison, but it was a beer that was a little less compelling than some of their others to me. for one, its a bit maltier than most, a crystal type element in here, it steers it away from dry and summery in my opinion. i also get very little of the wood, either the fermentation was quick enough that it never really got much wood character and it was unaged, or the wood is just tired from a ton of use at this point an is lending much in the way of flavor. it tasted mature from a yeast sense though, lighty farmy and belgian, not wild at all, but well developed. fuller bodied, some wheat or oats or both in here i would have to think, and great carbonation and feel. the whole thing just seems a little bland to me compared to how they describe it, i wanted wilder, woodier, and just more interesting. its almost too understated, but its as well made as anything else in here and could serve as a nice bridge beer between something belgian and something a bit more wild. also decidedly autumnal, which was enjoyable in the cool seattle fall air...