A Little Off Beat
Wayward Lane Brewing

my first ever from these guys and its awesome, perfect for fall, without necessarily being a seasonal, i think they did an awesome job with it, good enough that i feel like i should have known who they were before this. a nice low alcohol rye saison, and its very well made. perhaps most importantly, it has its own fermentation profile, its not a cultured clean strain just done the same way everyone else is doing it, a french type, not like that at all, its subtle, lightly belgian almost up front, and funky enough to present like there is some brett on the swallow, newer and kind of subtle, but its there, which gives this some dynamic character and a bit more of a rustic vibe than a lot of them, which i love, even need in a good saison, so well done there. its very light looking beer, clear for the style, wispy white head, almost looks like a pils, great carbonation too. the nose and taste are almost crackery, a little european thing to the malt to me, maybe belgian pils based, the rye is subtle but identifiable with everything else being so light, dry earthy spice in the middle, a neat wrinkle in a very elemental sort of brew. the ferment defines this more than the rye for me, which i think is appropriate, i love the funky wet musty brett on the back end, right when i swallow it, im sure this is intentional, its mild but it makes this, horsey and with that wet animal funk, light maybe noble hops here too, and very very dry. excellent carbonation, all the intangibles are here, and overall this is a really strong introduction to this place. hope to hit the brewery when i am back east next time, i really enjoyed this, easy, lively, interesting, refined. yum.