Hay There!
Devil's Club Brewing Company

really epic stuff here, one of the coolest ive had in awhile, and borderline a beer of the year candidate for me this year, some really cool ingredients in the mix, almost like something that could have come from scratch, a high high compliment from me, wow! a rustic saison base type done with actual hay, old mans beard lichen (whoa!), and aged in oak, really neat ferment, high refinement, tons of vibrant character from each of the elements, and overall just a wicked beer, sexy packaging too, i should have bought more than one bottle, its a stunner. blonde and high permanent headed, belgian looking, bottle conditioned it seems, micro bubbles, just a little haze but still glowing, looks wonderful the entire drink and i do take my time with this one, intriguing and drinkable as it is! some cool funk to the nose, light spiciness, massive new oak character, vanilla, light tannins, sweet lemon curd, white pepper and perhaps some emergent brett, really impressive ferment as way less sour than the golden cazzo which i had from them a few nights previous and found real acidic. this also seems like its dry hopped, even though it isnt mentioned, especially in the flavor, the back end has almost coconut cream and lemongrass notes, to me it seems like that has to come from hops, but i have never had this lichen in a beer before, could it really be from that? what a wild addition either way! there is an up front almost tropical sweetness in the flavor, a floral and grassy thing from the hay, dry but also fresh to me, and even with the sturdy oaken maturity this has a vibrancy to it. the lichen aspect is so intriguing but also kind of challenging, like i dont know what to expect from it so im not sure what we get, but this is so cohesive and clever, earthy from the malt, some raw wheat in it perhaps, white wine, fresh herbal character, majorly complex, fluffy feeling and totally effervescent. coconut and meyer lemon late, nice funk, old worldy but also experimental. hoppy but also kind of not, soft and balanced, nuanced as they come, great saison, i absolutely love this, and am stoked on devils club now. this is super cool!