Saint Somewhere Saison du Chene

Formerly brewed at Saint Somewhere Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Tarpon Springs, Florida USA

Gravity cask at Blind Tiger. Very muddy pour with a pale yellow, really ugly appearance. I’m not sure that pouring these Belgian styles from a cask is really the way to go, but I digress. The nose is really great. Bright fruitiness with a kiss of wheaty/yeasty tartness. There is a great cologne-like muskiness in the aroma that adds a bit of spiciness to the tartness and the pronounce fruitiness of the yeast. A little bit of pineapple and other tropical fruit flavours as well as a bit of crisp apple. The base is (unsurprisignly) a bit muddy but it is still surprisingly light and bright considering it looks like we’re drinking milkshakes. Fresh and tasty and something I’d love to try again out of a keg. These guys have a killer yeast on their hands and they know how to use it.

(Cask at Chelsea Cask Festival) Yellow and cloudy. Hardly any head. Sour and citric aroma. Medium bodied palate with little carbonation. Fruitiness, black pepper, coriander, light bitterness, citricness and sourness in taste. Sour and fruity aftertaste. This beer contains all the components for a good sour ale but the mixture doesn’t work and I don’t know why.

Draft @ Capones: Poured a cloudy orange color with a small white head. The aroma was funky, citrus, sweet, yeast and sour. The flavor was the same with oak and spice added. Overall, a very interesting beer that was just different.

Walking around the bar with this everyone thought I was drinking some fruity orange mixed drink. Its color is exactly that of a cloudy orange juice. After the initial pour the head vanished completely, and carbonation was at a minimal. It tastes like a mimosa, very sweet with orange and lemon flavors, some yeasty notes and a tangy finish. This beer would be a great morning drink, but overall wasn’t too impressed.

Draft at the Craft Ale House Stone event 9/23/09 as a warm up to the Stone flight. The pour was muddy trbid golden with white head. It looked like a smacked ass, but from the nose wafting to me I knew that it was gueuzy and active. Nose was pineapple/orange juice, hops, citrus, malt, floral. Tasted floral, yeasty spicy, with heavy citrus, hops, and some funk, and a citric palate that was very tropical, citric, and spicy, and the oaky woody notes hit more as it warmed, with a pleasant lead in to the hops that followed from Stone 11, 13, SSA, and Ruination. This is the Van Halen of beers, with Stone being the Rolling Stones of beers. Get ya some, and let the score standard deviation fall where it may.

Tap at Capones. Pours a milky yellow orange with a very small bubbly white head. Aroma of some weird spices, kinda has some sour notes but not much, rotten white grapes, yeasty, earthy and some woodiness. Flavor of almost a rotten sourness (not a good sour), rotten grapes, harsh bitterness, earthy and yeasty. Could barely finish it.

On draft at The Institute. Yellow and cloudy, like a mimosa. Aroma of orange zest, cheese, and peppered beef jerky. Taste is the same, with a disconcerting emphasis on umami flavors. Outdoorsy brett tastes also abound, and trail into sulfurous and woody notes with pepper into the finish. This beer’s doing its own thing, and I appreciate that.

On tap at Capone’s. Poured a deeper and cloudy/muddy yellow color with a very small (almost no) sized white head. Aromas of citrus, spices, citrus, some grapes, and lighter oak. Tastes of citrus (citrus rinds), spices, some wine, and very light woodiness.