North Coast Le Merle

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

Bottle courtesy of IMtheOptimator: Poured a hazy slightly dirty yellow color ale with a huge foamy head with good retention and good lacing. Aroma of estery yeast and spices is quite dominant as well as some tropical fruit- like sweetness. Taste is spicier then I would have expected which might be from the spice mix use in this beer or from the yeast strain use in this beer. Body is quite full and alcohol is not discernable. I thought this was reasonably well done for the style and would mind having another taste of it.

Courtesy redlight. Hazy yellow/gold, large, fluffy white head. Mild aroma of dry, airy, musty yeast, crisp graininess, and a light dose of floral hops. Same flavor with some lemon and generic fruitiness. Medium body, balanced carbonation. Unremarkable.

Herbal and spicy nose with touches of anise, ginger and alfalfa. Mildy astringent palate with a very slight dms character.

500ml bottle, aged 2 1/2 years. happy belated birthday Whole Foods. pours a hazy orange with a nice fluffy head. nose has lots of coriander, zesty orange and grapefruit, bread, yeasty, and subtle caramel. flavor seems a little weak, sweet biscuit, orange, coriander, and yeast. mouthfeel is pretty watery and carbination feels low. alcohol is well hidden. a pretty typical saison that’s easy to drink and refreshing, but not worth the $8/500ml.8/4/7/3/13=3.5.

9/19/07, 750ml labeled Le Merle. i thought this was a new saison from North Coast when I bought it. oh well. now this relabel is only $7/750ml, what gives? lose the anniversary label and the price goes down or is it a whole foods thing. whatever. perhaps i got this one a little fresher or the recipe changed slightly because I’m digging this now. pours a really nice looking faded orange with creamy dense head. nose is musty with spices from hops and/or yeast, and citrus almost tropical fruit nose. flavor is just not that funky but pretty crisp fruity, musty, and some toasted biscuit. nice fruity of apple, peach, and pear. perhaps a tad on the sweet side. finish is clean and very refreshing. more on the fruity side than funky. but that little spice and grainy flavor add to the complexity. solid and something i wouldn’t mind drinking more of. unfortuantly for North Coast, at that price you can get a saison from Dupont.3.8.

Bottle. Pours a murky yellowish-orange body with a large frothy white head. Lactic aroma with lascivious spice and yeasty dough, actually some diacetyl (not terrible though) too? The flavour is moderately brash with mid-level carbonation. Highly apparent spices - pepper, lemon, and cookies. Medium body. Good stuff.

Clear straw color with loose thick white head. Light, spicy, sweet, vaguely citrusy aroma. Well-carbonated but not overly done. Taste is sweet, mildly grassy, mildly spicy, some wheat notes. I wasn’t expecting much from this saison, but it really wasn’t bad at all. The taste could’ve been more complex, but an overall decent American attempt at a style where many have not fared well.

Bubbly Champaign appearance with vanishing head. Exploding carbonation. Herbal citrus aroma. Faintly detectable touch of buttery wheat. Medium amount of hops. Is that ginger? Old cider or maybe more accurately fermented apples. Complex but not my beer.

Bottle. Yellow and clear in color with a nice white fluffy head. Fruity pineapple aroma. Tart yeasty notes. Flavor is sweet and fruity. Apple and citrusy notes. Finish is hoppy. Medium bodied. Crisp and refreshing. Nice beer.