Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

2008. Slightly lower points on aromas and appearance than 2007. Sour flavors, same palate...7/3/7/4/16 2007: Pours deep gold into a tulip. Fluffy white head quickly recedes with little lacing to skim surface. Biscuit and earth aromas. Sharp and crisp with biscuit front to back with a lasting citrus/clove finish. Best US saison I’ve had...8/4/8/4/18

(draft @ The Old Toad - Rochester, NY) Hazy orange color with a thick and puffy white head. Aroma is full of citrus notes along with some pepper, spices, flowers, and some hops. Flavor is sweet and spicy all at the same time. Good amount of earth notes at the finish along with a spicy and tangy finish.

Bottle. Pours hazy orange yellow, white head. Aroma is funky, musty, tangy, toffee, tart raspberry. Flavor is funky musty cheese, wood, grains, slight fruit.

Bottle: Dark straw, fairly hazy and dirty, moderate to large frothy white head, spotty lacing.   Soft floral nose, fairly good portions of pepper and citrus like spices.   WOW, wonderful combination of candied citrus peel, flora, and black pepper.   Just the right about of sweetness to balance out with the pepper.   I must say, I really like this one.   Has a very slight barnish, or musty quality too that lends itself well to this one.   Smooth, with a moderate body.   Lingering pepper notes after the finish.   Remains somewhat sweet.   This one hear was one hell of a good drinking beer!   Many thanks to markgugs for sending me this one!

Bottle provide in two trades and served in pint glass: Initial pour shows a slightly hazed golden hue with a mostly lasting frothy head and left very good lace upon on the glassware. The aroma has notes of honey and butternut, hop and yeast driven spice (think cardamom and spearmint), apricot, grassy, and some bready malts. The taste is rather sweet and spicy but there is a level of twangy in the middle that kept this from becoming cloy. The best part of the taste is the dryer and earthy finish along with just a pinch of bitterness. The mouth feel is a tad sticky and soft and slightly warming. Okay but suffers from slight under attenuation. A worthy effort never the less.

Date: 08/09/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

hazy amber, whispy frothy white head that’s eaisly roused into a creamy head leaving drippy lace, sightly tart big funky aroma, creamy body, big complex flavor, slight tartness, touch of yeasty spicyness, good earthy backbone
-------- /> Date: 03/10/2007
Mode: bottle

big musty aroma of dust and cobwebs with a slight tart edge, lots of yeasty fresh bread coming though, flavor turns sweet and spicy with lots of complexity like a sweet spiced Christmas cake,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **4

draft. deep cloudy orange, thin white head. sweet aroma, some spice, light yeast. the classic musty yeast siason flavor is there, but it is drown out by pine hops, spice, heavy sugars and a sizable bitter. in my mind, siasons are supposed to be crisp and light so that you can savor the subtleties. they’ve gone the complete other direction with this and in the process destroyed some of the better qualities of the style. there is little tart, funk, or citrusy yeast to be found in this so-called farmhouse. i admit it is an interesting tasting beer, and if they had given it some other name i’d consider it in a different light, but i’m knocking this one down for missing the mark completely.

Yellow Amber pour with a decent white head. Light fruity, estery aroma, a bit floral, and of yeasty basement funk. Fruity overtones throughout the flavor, with that yeasty funk showing through a bit. Fairly straightforward in all aspects.