Sierra Nevada Brown Saison

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

On tap at Coles, Buffalo NY. Pours an amber brown with small head. Aroma is spice, light chocolate, Belgian yeastiness, caramel/chocolate malts. Taste has the saison yeast & spice up front followed by a wierd sweet & sour wine like twang. Some chcoolate maltiness deep into the palate. Interesting concept but falls a tad short

Brown with a thin off white head. Aroma is light spice, caramel, light alcohol. Taste is yeast, caramel, spice, light alcohol. I like.

On tap at the Crescent Moon. Pours brown and clear with a thin white head. Mild chocolate flavors that end in a very pleasant lemon sourness. Great beer.

Greenville, SC - on tap at Barley’s Taproom. Dark copper pour, nice khaki head with good lacing on the glass. Sweet aroma of toffee and cherries. flavor has a backbone of sweet molasses with a strong presence of cherries and some candied sugar. Sticky mouthfeel but it turns a bit cough syrup like in the end. Not very saison-like in my humble opinion.

Draft at Trappeze. It is as it is billed- a brownish Saison. Nothing spectacular. Sure wish sierra Nevada would step it up.

Light brown in color... Aroma is citrusy of coriander and orange peel... Flavor is malty but much less nutty than the brown, citrus flavor predominates with a surprisingly tart finish... What an amazingly unique beer... A real treat!!!

My 100th saison rating! Tap at Rattle’n’Hum. A kind of a mishmash of styles here, not quite the saison one expects but somewhat Fantome like, at least, something few brewers dare attempt. Fruity, floral, nutty, sweet. Weizenbock like peanut and wheatiness. Easy drinking. Cotton candy, sap, and woodruff notes. Perfume. Odd but not bad.

Tap at Barley’s. I was very, very intrigued to see a Sierra Nevada beer of this nature. I had to give it a shot. Boy was I horribly disappointed. This is a muddy brown color with a good head. The aroma is kind of like sour cream with vanilla and berries and cloves. Then comes the pain as I take a sip. The amount of flavor imparted by the esters is excruciating. It’s a blast of bubblegum and cloves that just kills my palate. I can’t tell what’s going on other than the massive clove/bubblegum onslaught. I get an almost vinegary twang in the finish, but I can’t get past that initial Belgian yeast bomb. I could not even finish this one, I didn’t even get close. Holy cow.