Sierra Nevada Brown Saison

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Chico, California USA

On Tap at Boise, EcoBrew Fest - Pours out a brown topped with a tall tan head. Aroma was nice lots of spice and belg yeast. It also had a good banana aroma with some sweet caramel. Tast was more of the sweet caramel, some pit fruit and more of the spice.

On tap at The Library. Pours a clear effervescent dark brown with a tan film. Aroma is spicy with a hint of bubblegum and a whole boatload of nutty maltiness. That same malt characteristic dominates the flavor, which somehow complements the spicy and phenolic saison undertones nicely. Medium bodied with a lively mouthfeel.

(draft @ The Old Toad - Rochester, NY) Dark brown pour with a thin tan head. Aroma is roasty and nutty at the start with some spices and yeast. Some banana as well. Flavor is incredibly smooth and malty. Lots of dark and caramel malts take away from the normal dryness of a saison and mix it well with almost a dubbel taste. Lots of fruit flavors near the end with some light spice. I really enjoyed it.

Draft at ratlle and hum. I don’t know why this was a saison, it was a little funkadelic.

Draft at Maxs. Cherry brown color. Minimal patchy head. Sierra makes a non hop centered beer! Was bracing myself for a bitter version, but this is smooth and malty all the way. Mild roastiness with some nutty, dark fruit pungency. Really fits into the Bierre de Garde style better than Saison. Grows on you. Mellows. OK.

On tap. Clear orangey brown with an off-white head. Aroma primarily of yeast. Medium body, nuts and fruit, quite yeasty with some phenols also. Very discreet bitterness. 080709

On tap @ HopCat Grand Rapids. Pours opaque brown with an off-white head. Nose is banana, malt, spice, some light fruit, and some typical saison smells. Flavor is malt, yeast, pepper, banana, and clove. Medium-bodied and loveable. A bit of weizenbock meets saison with good parts of both.

On tap at Guthrie’s in Chicago. Pours a deep glowing reddish brown with a small white frothy head. Aroma is spicy and fruity, berries, with a fair amount of bready malts to back up. Flavor starts with a base sweet dark fruit before adding a ting of slightly sour wild berries acidic. Returns to the malt sweetness along with a yeast character before finishing mellow and smooth with less character than through the start. Medium body and a soft carbonation. I thought it was a nice little beer, nothing off the charts but complex enough to enjoy.