Sowing Season
Astoria Brewing Company

really delicious beer, maybe my favorite from our visit here and totally unexpected, this is not the kind of place i expected to find quality saison. i have found in the united states that most breweries who make good saison specialize in the style, or in wild or farmhouse beers more generally, rarely do the winners come from do it all brewpubs without that specific focus. usually those examples tend to be too clean, generic on the ferment, overly estery and kind of belgian rather than rustic or unique, but this was an amazing surprise. super pale, almost watered down looking, lighter than yellow, ever so softly hazy, almost a lemonade tone, and kind of unassuming under a minimal white head. really different beer though, nose and taste of earthy perhaps raw or minimally boiled grain, wheat but without the heft to me, and there is a hop profile thats totally unique, i first thought maybe sorachi ace, it has that up front lemon curd and culinary herb thing, but then its kind of lighter and less oily and slick than sorachi often is, light vanilla, key lime, and white grape to the hops, still some sort of noble bitterness and trace spice, but this is a modern, new world hop complexion to me, really makes this interesting, and its all through this not just on the finish, fresh and peppy in the nose, ripe and juicy and exotic on the palate, but this is not at all an overly hoppy beer. the ferment is subtle but thankfully not samey, would doubt this as a french saison strain, maybe its just done cooler, but i love that its got its own personality, light white pepper, white wine, and preserved lemon esters, herbal and enhancing of the hops, drying this out to bone dry on the swallow, not real rustic or farmy, not funky or wild, but different enough. this is light as can be to drink, decidedly well balanced, and very interesting on all fronts. impressive brew, leagues better than the average clean saison in this country, love the hops!