Nopalli
Casa Humilde Cervecería Artesanal

 

Clear amber body with a white head. Prickly pear/cactus indeed in smell and taste. Nose has it in spades with lime and light grains. Taste actually worked for me, the prickly pear integrates into the yeast well with floral and rosewater notes, lime, grains, and slight plantain support. Feel is more malty than most saisons, but has a juicy drinkability which is appreciated. Went great with tacos. The wife liked it

Aroma is sweet prickly pear, malts and a hint of spices. The flavor is bananas/bubblegum, malts, fruit/prickly pears and a spicy Belgian yeast finish.

After just complaining about having to be the first reviewer on yesterday's saison (Maestro), today's saison forces the same task on me. What luck ! ... or in this case, Que Suerte !

Nopalli has an exquisite rose color and clarity... and while different than other saisons, I still give it very high marks. With Smells, I cannot be so generous; saisons are full of fruit and spices. Nopalli is only subtly offering up fruit, perhaps cactus blossoms. Tastes however are very refreshing from beginning to end and are balanced and pleasant. A very good saison has a fuller mouth.

Because it is pleasant, Nopalli was fine with a dinner of leftovers; flexible, cleansed the palate for all the different foods. But as a great saison would, Nopalli did not improve an average meal... it just went along. Maybe I'm asking too much of a young brewer who adds prickly pear to the mix, but I am asking.

All of which takes us back to yesterday's lecture suggesting grain variations in the traditional saison. (Its proponents being known as Euro Saison Heads.) However, tradition does not include the non-grain variations we are seeing more of today. The lecture continued that we, thus, could be served by adding a new category for those who appreciate non-grain variations such as prickly pear (i.e. Nopalli) or even some Brett that really do change up how "saisons" behave. And this new category of appreciators should be called NASHs, North American Saison Heads. Nopalli provides NASHs something to ponder. And to see if my hypothesis is correct, I hope to have more from Casa Humilde. Salud!

6/19/21 I have had more from Casa Humilde, totaling five and still looking for more. As for the above review, I edited again and cannot do better and am keeping count over at UnTappd.