Millys Tavern Evil Eye

Brewed by Millys Tavern
Style: Saison
Manchester, New Hampshire USA

Hazy straw body with white head. Aroma is medium sweet, coriander, ginger. Taste is moderatelys weet, coriander, some ginger, light alcohol in the finish. Watery medium body, some dryness in the finish.

on tap-pours a foamy white head, with hazy straw color. Aroma is coriander, wheat. Taste is coriander, wheat, spice. Finishing taste is the spice.

Slowly diminishing white head covers the cloudy golden body. Doughy, peppery and soapy yeastiness hits first, but the rye blends in nicely with the biscuity and cerealic barley, gentle inoffensive spicing (coriander? sage?) contributes rounding flavours. Finishing a bit phenolic, which works well here. Could be a bit more attenuated, but I don’t know that the rye would be as apparent. Reminds me of the more local Cheval Blanc saison examples. I really enjoyed the rye signature in this one, it procures a spicy, woody dry character that fits perfectly.

GABF 2005. Body is hazy medium yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), with notes of coriander, clove, lemon zest. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Crank up the raw yeast character a bit and leave out the spicing and this could be pretty cool.

Haylike, herbal hop notes with a lighter fruity and floral tone to the aroma. Hazy golden body is topped by a dense, fine bubbled, white head that recedes slowly to a lasting cover. Haylike, herbal hops are joined by a pleasantly full maltiness with fair bitterness and spices that come in to play mid to late taste and last on the palate. Medium body finishes perhaps a bit sweet (perhaps could stand to drop another couple of points?) but engaing, fine bubbled carbonation takes my mind off that very quickly. I could certainly see myself enjoying a pint or three. Thanks, Mike! Sampled at GABF 2005.

Handbotteed: Hazed golden hue with a small lasting frothy head and some lace. The aroma has notes of ginger, orange zest, corriander, heather, grassy hops and dusty yeast esters. The taste starts with a good flowery and spiced character with a fruity background. Lasting pepper note on the thin body and fizzy feel. Not to shabby, quite drinkable.

Draught Samples at two beer festivals, the most recent of which was the New England Beer Fest on 10/29/2005.
Thick-looking liquid is a deep golden-brass, with hints of light peach/tangerine tints. Very dense, creamy white head is well-retained and provides sticky lacing in rings at the top of the glass. Clarity is medium to medium-low.
The nose is filled with spices. Quite varied, and they keep the nose on the tip of its toes, but at the same time, it drives back the yeasty/Belgian part of the beer almost completely. What is left behind, is a touch of lightly fruity esters (pineapple, mango, lemon) that fold easily in to a sweet, honeyish malt finish, still quite alive with ginger and pepper. Spices do not seem to die down as it progresses, nor is there much in the way of hop crispness (some leafy, lightly grassy notes are minimally bitter). Coriander dryness helps balance things, but coincidentally, also aids in bullying the real saison qualities.
The flavor seems overloaded with spices. While some tropical fruit notes do break through, it almost adds to the overwhelming sense of strong flavors going on here. Malt is strong, sweet and could probably stand a bit more attenuation. 5% ABV from an OG of 1.053 leaves quite a bit of sugar behind. Ginger lays in to the palate as pepper and coriander build up and create some near astringent qualities on the finish. Mouthfeel is certainly full, strong and supportive, but again, not exactly crisp, as I would seek in a saison. Still, for an American spiced interpretation, it’s clean/without brewing flaw. Alcohol is not apparent.

This is a newer amped up version with different and more hops than previous versions as per hophead75. Andrew brought this to the Captain Lawrence gathering- thanks dude. This is really a unique and tasty Saison. Pours with a nice slight hazy gold with a fluffy lasting white head. Aroma is a cool blaance between intense west coast hops- moslty chinook and crystal and then you get a nice yeasty phenolic farmhousy character. Flavor is very hoppy along with lots of farmhouse hints, somewhat saisonlike behind the hops and finishes very dry and extremely bitter with citrus and pine in the end. Damn smooth and tasty. I loved this stuff. Not traditional but damn tasty stuff.