North Coast Le Merle

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

Bottle thanks to my man mreusch, thanks Matt. Poured a hazy, pale golden-orange color with rising bubbles and a thick white head that left good lacing. Aroma of soft tropical citrus fruit, hops, and some moderate yeastiness. Lightly tart, funky entry with undertones of citrus (lemon and soft mango) leading into some moderately bitter hops and some dry yeastiness. Just the right amount of carbonation, nice dryness and bite. A surprise and a nice treat. Thanks again Matt!

Corked & caged bottle. Medium sized white frothy, fizzy head that mostly expired, splotchy lacing, carbonation observed, hazy, and a part straw yellow and part golden hue. The aroma was yeasty, sweet, fruity, grassy, and peppery. The flavor was sweet, fruity, some malt, yeast, mildly spicy, and light hops. The mouthfeel was tingly and somewhat of a refreshing character to it. Medium bodied beer. Quaffable for the style, easy to drink, tasted good on a warm summer day, worthy of a try, and a beer that I would consider drinking again.

color is of aged paper with a smallish white head, a modicum unbalanced. bouquet of pepper chests from india and citrus barrels from the orient. pleasant taste if somewhat heady from the spices. the finish is a mite dry and leaves one feeling a bit rubbery. all in all not a bad effort.

This corked and caged bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a very large sized head of foamy finely sized white colored bubbles that were mostly diminishing and left behind a slightly hazy softly carbonated light yellow-orange colored body and a thick foamy lacing. The mild aroma was floral and malty. The crisp mouth feel was weakly tingly at the start mediumly tingly at the finish. The mild flavor contained notes of malt mild hops fruity mildly vinous wheat and coriander. A decent one but not one that I would consider buying again.

Bottle (750ml) shared at ’Biegaman’s Second Annual Saison Tasting’ - courtesy of biegaman. My sample came from near the bottom of the bottle, so it was quite hazy, looking more like grapefruit juice than beer. Aroma of citrus, yeast, spice (coriander) and a bit of funkiness. Medium bodied. Flavour is nice, with some spice and tropical fruit notes, although the heavy dose a sediment made it a but too yeasty for my liking. But it’s still a pretty solid saison.

Aroma had a lot of yeastiness with some citrus and some light funk to this. Flavor was pretty dry actually which was nice. Not much noticable alcohol. A lot better than i was expecting from this one.

This was a nice surprise. The aroma of Belgian yeast. Delicious. A billowy white head and a golden body. A mellow apricot and melon flavor with crisp hop and carbonation. Slick mouthfeel with a medium body. Eminently drinkable. Damn I love this style. Good job North Coast.

75cl bottle from Willow Bend Liquors (Tampa, FL). Rated on 3/3/08. Pours a clear golden with thick, creamy, off-white head. Reasonable head retention. Aroma is slightly bitter with notes of hay, straw, ripening fruit. Flavor notes includes vegetables (most notably cucumber), slightly sweet malt, slightly bitter, hops-like taste. Hints of tart fruit and muscat grapes on finish. Becomes more complex as it warms. Medium-bodied, quick, slightly bitter finish.