North Coast Le Merle

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Fort Bragg, California USA

Very very nice brew. Very bubbly with a nice hue and a great sweet taste. Well worth a try!

This beer poured a cloudy yellow golden color with generous white head that dissipated to a thin film along the top. The aroma was of citrus, spice, and yeast. The flavor was of the same with more citrus coming through. The mouthfeel was medium-bodied. The drinkability was pretty high and would be nice on a hot day.

Pours hazy gold, big white head on top. Aroma is great! Floral notes mesh with medium fruit notes, yeast, pepper, and citrus. Flavor reflects aroma, but with the addition of caramel and an almost clove-like flavor in the middle. More hoppy than usual for the style, and less barnyard aroma/flavor than I prefer for the style. Very nice, still.

Had a grip of these off the nipple at Blind Lady last night. Delicious. Pretty much in line with many more delicious saisons like Hennepin, but with the added bonus of a little hop goodness at the end.

Daffodil colored with a big foamy white head. Smells great, with sugar, citrus, and a hint of funk. Sharp carbonation, nice funky yeastiness, and went well with food.

750mL cork-finish with no date. Poured into wide-topped flute (Blanche de Chambly glass). Appearance: Pale yellow straw. Thick foamy head, slow to recede yet leaves little lacing. 1/4 inch remains after 1 minute. Nose: Fruity esters, orange, apple, pear, and white peach. A hint of pale wheat and a touch of Italian bread. Palate: Spicy up front and has good carbonation. Lots of mixed fruits, with yeast-spice gliding way out on the finish. Grapefruit and grass come up, almost like a NZ sauvignon blanc. Finish is moderately long and leaves the impression of a crisp white wine. Notes: A solid beer, not the best "saison" I’ve had, but a damn drinkable brew from a respectable company. It’s going to go really well with my Baby Boucheron cheese, toasted baguette slices and Quinta do Coa Olive Oil (Portugal)! Cheers!

750ml $8.99 Binny’s Orland Le Merle pours a hazy apricot with enthusiastic carbonation that explodes from all over the glass. The body becomes straw golden when backlit. A soft pour produced a three finger pure white head that eventually fell to a solid finger and never dipped below that. The carbonation keeps the now craggy head around for the entirety of the drink. The head leaves patchy spider webbed lacing here and there down the glass. The aroma right off the bat is loaded with fresh fruit that’s very inviting. Peaches and apricot is the first thing that comes to mind, neither are clear cut but seem to meld together. Each swirl brings forward a helping of orchard fruits; gritty pear, perfectly ripe tart green apples, and although not an orchard fruit, bubblegum. There seems to be a dusty somewhat clove driven yeast in the background. The malts are pale and candied aroma to the overall beer. A mild grassy hoppiness brings up the rear. As this beer warms some mild, clean alcohol fumes greet the nose. I’m conflicted on the scoring for this. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. The flavor doesn’t quite live up to the vivid aroma. There’s still a fresh fruit platter of ripe refreshing fruitiness that nose suggested but it’s more muddled than I would have liked. If each component came out a little more it would make this a great beer but I do think the carbonation has something to do with this. The mild clove, dusty yeast and ripe apricot show up on the swallow to add another layer to this already juicy beer. This is a good beer but the flavor is just too muddied upfront to make it really stand out. The carbonation is on the high side and seems to detract from the overall flavor and mouthfeel. The carbonation is prickly and moves a little too quickly to let me appreciate the beer the way I’d like. The body is on the lighter side of the spectrum and right where it should be. After this beer sits awhile the carbonation becomes more manageable. This is a tasty Belgian-style beer. The refreshing fruity qualities and light body make this a treat to sip on warm summer days. Le Merle is a sipper when you take the alcohol into consideration but can go down very easy. North Coast lists Le Merle as a saison; it reminds me of a hybrid saison/tripel. There’s good flavor throughout this beer with a good amount of fresh summer fruits. This is another quality brew from North Coast. I really like the things this brewery does. Serving type: bottle 7/2/08

Cloudy honey amber color. Effervescent; big lush head. Aroma - fruity esters; peach, banana, pepper(?), alcohol. Very creamy. Surprisingly dry up front before you’re hit by the concentrated peachy flavors. Yeasty. Am I imagining pineapple aftertaste/burps. This is pretty decent although to be honest I was hoping for something a little more exotic maybe. Of similar beers that I’ve tried recently, Russian River Damnation and Val-Dieu Blonde come to mind. ... 4-5 hours later: wow, i really took my time drinking this. as i’m getting close to finishing this bottle, i just now notice this lemony citric bitter rind flavor come out, now that it’s room temp. This still drinks fine at the end, which is a big plus to me.