Autumn Farmhouse Ale
Block 15 Brewing - Southtown Tap Room

500 ml bottle from Lifesource in Salem Oregon.
$4.99
This year according to the label it is 7.4% alc
Pours a slightly hazy yellow coloured ale with a large thick and bubbly white head.
Nice fruity, medicinal and earthy aromas. Sweet honey in the background.
Taste similar but with more peppery spice, a bit of funk added and finished bitter ginger root.
Mouth feel is round and smooth for style ( oats ?)..but makes for easy cool weather drinking.
A strange one..all of a jumble yet enjoyable.

500ml bottle

A very heady pour yields two fingers of just barely off white head into my tulip glass. Fizzing slightly, but decent retention. The body is an extremely dark shape of orange, with hues of brown, quite cloudy as well. This looks quite nice so far, the head is settling and looks very frothy.

The nose is pretty impressive. Loaded with banana and clove. Definitely a rustic, dry feel to it, while also having some distinct sugars and esters as well. Having a hard time picking out the honey, but I'm sure it's there. This is pretty strait forward, but quite good non the less.

The flavor is not quite as strait forward, which is a good thing. The flavor leads off with those sweet esters, but are quickly accompanied by a dryness and a tang, not quite sour, but definitely tangy. It doesn't taste infected, nor metallic, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what could be causing the tangyness, maybe just a very dry yeast/hop combo. It's not unwanted. This flavor arrives in the middle, and hits somewhat hard in the finish, and lingers a tiny bit. This area of the beer is reminiscent of champagne yeast. The beer is different than your average farmhouse. Very flavorful, and I would certainly put this on the slightly drier side. Overall an interesting farmhouse, and tasty.

The mouthfeel is very champagne esque. Quite dry, with a very hefty carbonation. Body sits at medium thickness. This may not be my personal ideal kind of farmhouse, but it's well done, and it has character.

The drinkability is pretty good here. It's light enough and certainly tasty. I'm not sure if the dryness makes it more sessionable or less, but it works.

The appearance turned out quite nice. The head lasted longer than I initially expected, and I got a pretty substantial film all the way down the glass. The lacing came in waves, but it was thick where it stuck. Good looking beer.

Overall this isn't a super crazy beer, and it may not be the perfect beer for me; but I can tell it's well done, it's different, and quite tasty.

Poured into an imperial pint, Autumn Farmhouse is a hazy burnt gold with a large, off-white head with sticky, rocky head leaving cotton-candy lace.

Smell is yeasty bread dough as well as some apple-like esters, very evocative of autumn, but not particularly robust.

Taste is also on the restrained side and similarly yeasty, but even more muted, and mostly bread dough on a subtle aftertaste.

Mouthfeel is medium light, spicy and bone dry.

Drinkability is pretty high, this goes down pretty easy, if a little burpy. I just wanted a little more, a bit too ephemeral.

500ml Bottle

A big thanks goes out to Phil for this treat. Thanks guy! The second that this beer leaves the bottle it glows bright orange like a rising sun. The body has a touch of haze that makes it impossible to peer through the body. The dirty white foam rouses easily to two fingers in height. The head is impressive to say the least, it's dense like meringue and leaves sticky lacing plastered to the glass. That foam is going nowhere until I remove it with soap and water.

The nose is about as inviting as it comes, comforting actually. It is estery off the bat with dewey pear and a hint of green apple, before the phenols kick in, clove and soft white pepper. They seem to have used a very expressive yeast strain. The yeast profile is hugged by Bazooka Joe and a smattering of floral hoppiness. Honey Nut Cheerios comes to mind immediately with the soft sweetness that's present.

Again, this beer is very yeast driven. Esters and phenols lead the way. The green apple is a bit more noticeable and the pear fades. The clove misses the party but the white pepper is still present. There's a nice complex spiciness from the hop profile as well, herbal and grassy. The sweetness is simply enough to balance the yeast and hoppiness and comes in that form of Honey Nut Cheerios. Bazooka Joe and an herbal bitterness wrap this beer up. I'm a fan.

The mouthfeel is where it should be on this beer. The body is moderate in weight but with the bubbly carbonation tends more toward a lighter feel. The effervescence hits the inside of the cheeks and the ti of the tongue, getting them ready for the solid bitterness. The finish dries up over a handful of seconds and when it dries up it nearly leaves you parched. Highly drinkable.

Autumn Farmhouse is a really well made beer. It's very yeast driven and spicy. The orchard fruits are bright and the bitterness solid. It's dry and highly drinkable. The honey addition was a nice touch. I'm a big fan. Thanks again, Phil!

Light hazy gold that foamed up well feed by a heavy champagne style carbonation. Dry oak leaves on the nose with a touch or sweet Meyer lemon. Dry cedar and a touch of red earth. Crisp fresh red apple. Grafite aftertaste with long herb and white pepper finish. Light and tangy feel. Very dry on the finish without the acidic hop bitterness. I'm a sucker for a dry saison and this one hits all the right notes.

2017, from a 16.9 oz bottle. 7.5% abv.

A disturbingly beautiful beer blends a light gold to medium amber from bottom to top White foam rushes from down below to the surface before setting as a rocky pillow. It refuses to lay down, and stubbornly clings to the glass as the liquid descends.

Tart apples and pear, sweet drops of honey, a dash of white pepper, and a hint of soapy water intoxicate the senses. Freshly rolled sourdough makes it all the moreso as it warms.

Again with the pleasantries. Every one of the aromas come together in even harmony. There is a lingering earthy or soil like flavor in the finish, but peppered fruits take the dominant profile.

A slick texture coats the tongue before a dry fruitiness lingers. There is an earthy bitterness to it, but overall is pretty well balanced. At a warmer temperature, this is almost too easy to drink.

Block 15 nailed this Autumn harvest. Aside from being delicious and thoughtfully constructed, it pairs perfectly for holiday meals. A farmhouse ale that is warm and inviting even during the cold and rainy surroundings, this is a real pleasure and a treat. Cheers!

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a medium golden amber with coppery notes and a nice two finger white head with great retention and lots of thick lacing. Aroma of mixed grain malt, saison yeast, apples and light honey. Flavor follows, with rather complex grainy malt with some husky bitterness, light apple juice and bread crust. A dry bitterness develops that tastes more like it is associated with the grain than hops and interestingly the honey reasserts itself, giving this an unusual dry impression, but with a mild honey sweetness in the background. Good lightly creamy body with good mouth feel and carbonation. This mostly tastes like a classic farmhouse with a mixed grain base, but has a great flavor progression that reveals the grain, fruit, yeast and bittering component at stages. Surprisingly bitter for a saison, but well supported and blends with the other flavors. I liked this a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heavy on the honey, which buries the other flavors. Not my favorite.

 

11/13/2016

 

Slightly hazy dark orange color with frothy, beige head. Aroma has specific saison notes like hay and meadow flowers and some overripe fruits. Taste starts on the sweet side with farmhouse yeast character, solid malt backbone and a good amount of earthy bitterness on the finish. Quite dry on the palate and well carbonated. Overall it's a quite nice, rustic saison.

Thanks to Sharpski for this one from a recent box. 16(?)oz bottle poured into 10oz goblet. Poured a hazy, cloudy bright yellow color, with lots and lots of pillowy white head that had great retention and medium-to-very good lacing.

The aroma was fantastic; lots of yeast spice, great grains, and some earthy hops. A bit of honey shows on the tongue, and the hops are brighter. The yeast and grains provide the meat of this dish though, and solid sustenance it is. Earthy, with nice pop to it, this brew hits all the notes I want a beer in this style to hit.

Body is great, crisp, smooth, just a bit of carbonated effervescence across the tongue, and a dry finish that lets the flavors linger. Drinkability is insanely good, I could have just kept pouring this stuff down. Overall, a truly great brew. a must-hit if you see it.