North Coast Le Merle

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

Bottled. Pale orange colour with big creamy head. Big spicy aroma, with citric pale maltiness and good fruity esters from tropical fruits. Spices add complexity here as always with Saison, that goes well with the pale malts. It feels a bit sweeter than the average Saison, but that’s just a side note. Very good beer here.

Bottle shared by csbosox. Pours a cloudy amber with a fluffy white head that collapses to a thin cap. Belgian yeasty esters, citrus and dusty malt comprise the nose. Light to medium-bodied with soft carbonation and a lightly dry finish. Dry, citric and yeasty with a moderately spicy, peppery-dry finish. A tasty saison. Thanks for sharing this one, Chris.

Draught: Light cloudy copper color small head. Heavy carbonation, with a Belgian taste with zest! Has a nice tropical fuity flavor. I need to drink this again.

750 ml bottle courtesy of csbosox. Pour is cloudy yellow orange with a one inch white head which falls pretty fast. A bunch of fine carbonation. Aroma is wet mud dirtiness and pepper spiciness. Green pepper vegetable in the nose as well. Taste is effervescent, with yeasty earthiness. Medium full body, after taste lingers with the vegetables. Decent Saison. Thanks Chris!

750ml bottle. Light, fruity aroma, full of dusty, cobwebby yeast notes, faint lemon and pear and a gentle, pale malt presence shows itself here as well. Thoroughly cloudy light orange-amber color, head is uneven and fine. Flavor is sweet and spicy, slightly funky, bready and yeasty, finishes with a dose of herbal hop flavor and pepper, faint tartness and gentle bitterness. Bubbly, effervescent mouthfeel, body is medium-full. Some lingering phenolic, medicinal tones. Pleasant, overall.

750ml bottle. Hazy golden orange color with a 3 fingered head. Aroma is peppery with light fruits, clean malt, and some earthiness. Intial taste is pils malt, candi sugar, light fruits, tropical fruits, black and white pepper. Pretty nice.

(Bottle) Pours cloudy/hazy orange to light amber with a medium white head. The aroma is a fantastic and quite complex mix of fruity/doughy/moldy/plastic yeast, Nobel floral/grassy/light herbal hops, white bready/toasty malt and some spices. Tones of ripe banana, ripe mango, orange, mild strawberries, lemon, roses, coriander, white pepper, light clove and moldy basement. The flavour is of citrus - orange/orange peel and lemon, toasted white bread and cracker like malt, grassy/spicy hops, doughy/moldy yeast and some coriander/white pepper spiciness. The mouthfeel is well-carbonated and quite crisp yet soft and light smooth. Finish is a bit dry with tones of bitter oranges and quite a lot of hops - herbs/spices/bitter grass (but low alpha so there is no striking bitterness to talk about) alongside some spiciness from both the hops and the yeast with perhaps even some real spices included. Well balanced sweetness. Medium bodied. Wow, a very underrated and well made Saison from North Coast. Highest mountain and deepest valley is the headline for this brewery quality wise.

Tap at Brewery. Pours with a huge head with good retention. Aromas of tart fruit and lemon. The flavors are not as funly as a sasion should be however they get better when the beer warms. It has a nice breadiness to it, togther with some lemon notes and a bit of clove. perhaps more a Belgian blonde though than a saison but still good.