Coast Range Farmhouse Saison 7

Formerly brewed at Coast Range Brewing Co.
Style: Saison
Gilroy, California USA

Very disaapointing for the style. I did not taste very much spices herbs or hops. Poured hazy orange with a citrusy aroma. Slight bananas and citrus notes, mild note of belgian yeast. Could be mistaken for a hefe almost.

A saison that really isn’t that great. The spices aren’t very tasty. It also has a grassy bit of flavor. Pretty poor for the style.

For $2.99 a bomber at the BevMo, this is a solid deal. More like a wit than a saison, but if you really want to break it down and get the dictionary out, a wit can be considered a saison. Let’s not argue about it. I’m sure plenty of folks just can’t like a $2.99 beer, but this is good enough to go into rotation. And it’s more than it being cheap.. it tastes pretty good too. Like a nice wit with a parting peppery note to remind you that you just had a saison.

Bomber received in a trade with dhlesq in late Feb/early March 2006. Consumed on 8/12/06.
Leaving the moderate amount of sediment in the bottle, the beer decants a still-somewhat-hazy, soft straw/hay gold with light lemon-yellow tints. Medium sized bubbles carry about through the liquid and produce a one-finger high, white/off-white head that fairly rapidly recedes to cover, with blotchy lacing left behind.
Hmmm, not what I was expecting in the nose. Lavendar, coriander and light vanilla-like sugars in the nose give off scents of a wit beer. Very flowery, with clean, minimal phenol activity and a definite orange/lemon zest tanginess. Honey and the aforementioned vanilla represent the malt structure, which is supportive, and seemingly not overly sweet from the nose. Even upon warming, I keep getting brought back to the wildflower notes that seem prevalent. Stir in a little bit of white pepper and some definite grassy, leafy hops that seem to add to the fresh, floral character. As far as a saison though, where’s the yeast complexity? This certainly is no Dupont/Blaugies/Fantome clone. Very clean in the yeast department; too clean I would propose.
If the aroma suggested a wit beer, the flavor screams wit beer. I’d be interested to see what yeast they used. It seems to have that mildly phenolic, lightly juicy and acidic flavor typified by the White Labs and/or Wyeast Belgian Wit strains. Plus, you’ve got notably less attenuation than would be expected from a classic Saison strain. Not to say it’s too sweet, far from it, but it just isn’t as dry and crisp as a saison could be. Even the hops are weakly grassy/mossy, without nearly any bitterness or bite. The wildflower/lavendar/grass notes are strong again, in the flavor, while the honey notes from the malt are sticky. Carbonation is a bit too loose overall, leading to a watery finish, with some astringency.
I don’t want to go the direction of expecting every "saison" to taste similar to Fantome, Dupont, Blaugies, etc...but this is just too reserved and lacking of character. Still, it’s well-brewed for what it is and I’m excited to try more from this brewer.

Pours a nice hazy golden color. Didn’t get a lot of smell from this one, but I did catch the usual belgian spices - clove, some banana, etc. Taste is somewhat malty and very spicy. It starts off rather sweet, but finishes very peppery. I really like these Coast Range beers. I think they are quality beers.....and affordable. Good stuff.

Nose is grainy with a little spice; slightly hazy gold with a medium white head; flavor is malty and spicy with some hop bitterness.

Excellent brew, nice golden color and small white head. Belgian/spicy nose and flavor, but it had more body than I was expecting.

On tap at Toronado. Pours a hazy straw color with a lasting white head. Very earthy nose, straw & grass. Cloves, yeast, and orange flavors duke it out for dominance in this brew. Mouthfeel was light, but not watery. A nice offering from Coast Range.