Habitat
West Kill Brewing

 

A light, bright flavor option in the dearth of winter. And like most of West Kill's beers emphasizes locally foraged ingredients, which in this case are, spruce tips and buckwheat. Once again West Kill 'spruces' up a beer with their backwoods Yankee ingenuity. Pale golden color sets the stage for tart pop citrus and berries to come, but the head left a bit to be desired. The aroma is slightly funky, oak staves mixed with limoncello gelato; apple cider vinegar, black cherry, wet wood and damp soil. Flavor is tart, refreshing and citrus forward...mainly lime. Small and robust bush fruit comes to mind like chokecherry and aronia along with crab apple. Sweeter honeydew, hints of a cinnamon spice, and lastly a wispy, sappy resin as it sits on the palate. Hence, it finishes a bit sweet and doesn't have the classically dry finish although the carbonation and prickling acidity last. Overall, it departs from a classic Belgian style saison and falls more in line with wild/farmhouse beer in the mouthfeel and appearance (light color O.K. but head was fizzy). But it does I feel, borrowing from wine culture, embrace the terroir of the region.

Bottle poured into a tulip.
The appearance had a chill hazy burnt orange to semi-copper papery color. Small off white foamy head slid off at a decent pace. Light wispy concave lace rode along the sides of my glass.
The aroma had some shaved lemon peel, lemongrassy whiffs, slight jolly rancher thing going on with some grassy to funky character sliding in underneath. Iced citrus peel with a slight hoppy punch to it as it warms. Some oak barrel trying to come through.
The flavor leaned towards a full fledged jolly rancher lemon juice with some funk and a developing tart oaky edge. Aftertaste lingers with some oaky barrel to lemon juice and a touch of funk.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Some tart character bumps fists with enough dryness to prevent me from throttling this down my throat. Good carbonation. Finishes with some lemon juice, dry oak barrel and jolly rancher sweetness.
Overall, very nicely done Belgian tart saison, very well balanced and nothing overly exerting itself in any direction. Would be an awesome one in early Autumn or mid Spring.