Solera Saison
Westbound & Down Brewing Company

 

Flat with no head... Rich amber honey color that has a bit of a glow to it... Nose of rich wood and Belgian yeast... Palete is off the charts complex... Sour peach skin, yeasty, grassy, loads of woody character... Really interesting and complex... Feel is dense and medium bodied with very limited carbonation... Smooth and sleek... Really really good stuff... I would visit this with regularity if I was from around here...

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from 750 mL bottle into cervoise.
A: Pours a fairly clear orange-yellow hue with 1/2 inch bubbly fizzy white head that quickly recedes to a thin skim.
S: Sour cherry, tart lemon, stabilizing oak, pepper, and hints of peach and vanilla.
T: Tart lemon, strong pepper, peach, and oaky Chardonnay followed by Brett funk, vanilla, and hints of sour cherry and almond.
M: Light body. Lively, refreshing, effervescent, tart, sour, and balanced funk, fruit sweetness, and spice/pepper. All of this is softened by a touch of lactobacillus. Complex and lovely mouthfeel!
D: What a superb blend of barrel-aged saisons! Complex summer sipper to enjoy best on its own but could pair well with a light creamy cheese.

 

this is awesome stuff, not cheap, but really good beer, one of the best i have had from these guys, their sour and wild beer has gotten amazing lately, i heard some rumor about bokkereyder yeast being involved, which im not sure how they would swing that, seems like an unlikely candidate to get something so notable, but the beer is killer either way. some nice funk to this in the nose and the taste, not particularly sour, which i like. i feel like all these expensive and higher end wild beers lately have all been so acidic, maybe in response to consumer demand, but i like the more bretty less bacterial profile sometimes, so much nuance here in nose and taste, cut and dried wildflowers, a lambicus type brett, maybe a drie too, straw and hay, dried apple and even apricot, wild but subtle, and lots of wood too, clean for what it is, so alive, dry and bubbly, the exact right feel for something like this, a little body from the wheat, short of full or creamy, but with excellent depth and pace to it. simple really, but rustic, mature, and old worldy, as good as anything in the game right now, and being so mellow right now, its almost assuredly set to age really nicely. i had no idea these guys have gotten so good at this sort of thing, a really nice surprise! i imagine this will be a magic base beer for all kinds of fruits in the future, should the chose to do that. i love it as it is! their best beer ever.