House in the Tall Grass
Beer On Earth

Pour is a pale yellow with slight haze, and a huge tower of white foam that lasted several minutes before doing the ring and island bit. So it looks like a saison should...bring in the other senses.

The smell is...well...kind of weak so I'm not getting a huge sense of expectation. The smell isn't quite setting the table. Vaguely bready, a citrusy note, maybe a gentle bit of funk, not much in the spice common to the style. A bit of a harumpf here, but what's it taste like?

This is an interesting thing. The taste opens pretty much as bland as the aroma, but after a few sips it absolutely blossoms with the characteristic flavors of the style. The beer is grounded with a slightly sweet malt flavor and an ephemeral brett-like funk. Wheat...ummmm...maybe. The rest of the gang then starts to weigh in and the flavor builds a nice lemon level, yeastiness, a black peppery spice note and eventually a tad bit of clove. This all presents itself initially in the aftertaste, but that just sets the stage for the next sip where the late developing flavors play nicely off the renewed maltiness. Subsequent sips meld into a very nicely rounded saison.

Feel is light. drying, maybe a bit undercarbonated for the style. Eventually the spiciness gets pleasantly tingly. Nice bitter level.

Soooo....overall this is a nice beer that ticks the saison boxes....eventually. I think tame is the right word here. It's not as raucous and effusive as a Tank 7 or some other heavyweights in the style, but it gets there by a different path. I wish it had a bit more going on with the smell, so no happy points there. Damned respectable and enjoyable effort from a local shop.