Barrel Aged Saison
Blindman Brewing

473ml can - another rather dear offering at the otherwise truly stellar Blindman total tap takeover at Beer Revolution YEG Oliver Square.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden yellow colour, with a very thin cap of wispy and weakly bubbly dirty white head, which leaves absolutely no lace anywhere near the glass as it quickly sinks out of sight.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy and doughy pale malt, a lesser biscuity wheat character, mild vanilla-accented woody notes, a mild earthy yeastiness, and some plain herbal, leafy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and grainy cereal malt, vanilla pods, wet wood, muted black peppercorns, a faded phenolic yeasty essence, and more understated herbal, leafy, and floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite tame in its banal frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with little cause for concern at this particular juncture. It finishes off-dry, the generic graininess holding down the lingering fort.

Overall - this is a pleasant enough barrel-aged version of the style, with the wood not becoming a burden on the base brew, as such. The beer is certainly much, much easier to swallow than the price for the serving size here.