Black Oak Summer Saison

Brewed by Black Oak Brewing
Style: Saison
Etobicoke, Canada

Bottled at Stockholm Beer Festival 2007. An unclear orange beer with a thin white head. The aroma is sweet spicy - among them coriander, but also a lot of others that I can’t put a name to. The flavor is sweet malty and very spicy, leading to a dry spicy finish. A nice saison.

Bottled at Stockholm Beer Festival. Hazy pale orange. Aroma of orange with menthe and yeast. Medium sweet with rounded spritzy mouthfeel. Notes of papery malt and peppery alcohol. Low bitterness. Good flavourwise, but lacks a bit of depth.

Bottled@SBWF2007. Hazy orange colour, small white head. Citrusfruits in nose along with some earth and malts. Also some slight hayish notes. Flavour is the same. Not very much Belgian saisonlike notes...

Quenching, full body. Subtle spiciness. Refreshing. At first it was quite bitter but five or six months later this has really ’rounded’ into form.

2004: Not ready yet, but I got some anyway. I’ll ignore the flatness and yeastiness, not bother with numbers and just say that it seems very refined and fruity, only lightly spicy, and definitely sweeter than the 2001 edition. Too bad I won’t be around to try it when it’s ready...or will I? I got a couple bottles in the mail and it’s a totally different animal after nine months. Very dry, yeasty, a little funky...proper saison.

Bottle at Stockholm Beer Festival 2007
Cloudy light amber color. The aroma is lightly spicy and fruity (oranges). Medium body, a bit dry and spicy. Not bad but simple.

(BCTC, 12oz bottle) Medium white head atop cloudy apple juice body. Aroma is medium sweet, yeast, some pepper, clove, banana. Taste is medium sweet, banana, yeast, some pepper. Low carbonation, light-medium body.

Bottled@SBWF 2007
Very hazy orange color, small white head. Grapefruity nose. Fruity, a bit sourish grapefruit flavor, yeasty. American-style saison.

12oz: Thanks radiomgb for a new collectible saison. Nice cloudy amber body, thin off-white cover. Good herbal nose, slightly floral, minty, fruity (pears) with notes of coriander. Herbal palate provides a very approachable balancing bitterness through mild hops reminiscent of goldings. Decent biscuity maltiness, soft body, quite low carbonation. It is quite yeasty actually, but this yeast strain just doesn’t boast the same maturity than a Dupont’s or blaugies. Finally, this didn’t feel like a saison all that much although I’m glad to see a Canadian brewery give the style a try. It definitely lacked some carbonation and needs more original summery hay, funk or whatever flavour, more head would be fun too, maybe next year? By the way, this is said to be far superior on tap.