Southampton Abbey Single

Brewed by Southampton Publick House
Style: Belgian Ale
Southampton, New York USA

Bottle, the new batch. Aroma of delicate, bready yeast, subtle citrus complexities, stone-ground bread, so very elegant. Flavor filled with more subtle, dry fruits and a sweeter, lightly yogurty yeastiness, with more biscuit-like malt. Some ticklingly tart fruitiness closes things out. Eminently drinkable, again, elegant is the word that keeps jumping to mind. Great to see a brewery clearly putting a great deal of effort into brewing a 4.5% gem.

Bottled December 2008; Sampled March 2009
This seems to be pretty well carbonated as a reasonable pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet glass still produces four-fingers of pale, just off-white colored head that leaves quite a bit of lacing on the sides of my glass as it slowly recedes. The beer is a hazy, orangish straw color that shows more of the same, just brighter when held up to the light. The aroma is nice and rustic; a mix of bread like yeast notes, a touch of lemon zest, fresh grain aromatics, young ginger notes, some light herbal hops (more like a mix of wild flower notes with some herbal weed’ish notes). I really like the whole grain note that this beer has, it mixes with the yeast driven notes quite well and makes the aroma seem nourishing some how.

Light bodied and effervescent as it rolls across the tongue, this beer is quite dry and has a solid lightly herbal hop note as well as a touch of lemon zest character. The solid grain character is also in the flavor with a grassy grain character, a hearty cracker note and yeasty character that accentuates a fresh bread like character. This has a fair amount of hop character to it, which is definitely nice in a lighter beer like this; it has a solid bitterness that provides a crisp bite in the finish along with a peppery carbonic bite. While quite dry tasting overall the citrus hop notes accentuate a perceived sweetness in the middle and end of a sip. This seems to accentuate a note that reminds me a bit of pickled ginger, there is also an earthy white pepper note, some savory herbal notes (not quite sage or savory, but something). I really like how light bodied this is, it is not watery though as it does have some texture to it; this is a beer meant to quaff a couple liters of over a hot, sweltering summer afternoon.

Allowing the beer to warm up from its serving temperature of 50ºF / 10ºC really boost the complexity and flavor volume; this is quite the hearty beer for being so low in alcohol. I just love beers like this. Light, low alcohol, and Belgian inspired, these get me every time. This particular beer has a nice lush body to it compared to some of the others in a similar vein. This is a beer I would be happy to have lots and lots of on hand, it is just a really good libation to have a full glass of. Too soon my 22oz bottle of this beer is long gone, if I had another couple of these I would easily continue to consume these for the rest of the evening.

Candy-like malty sweetness with biscuity malts and strong citrus fruitiness in the aroma with some leafy hops apparent. Opaque tan-orange body is topped by a lasting cover of white head that leaves a nice sudsy lace. Restrained leafy, citrus hops with a minty note balance the brown sugar sweetness and biscuit-like malts in the flavour. Medium body with fair carbonation that engages the tongue. Bottle enjoyed with MartinT, muzzlehatch, Olivier_MTL, Rastacouere and Yowie.

bomber - thanks riversideak!! pours pale yellow with slight haze of fluffy white head; soft texture with flavors of wheat, lemons grass and mild belgian yeast; subtle touches of cloves and bananas; quite a lovely brew that doesn’t pound you over the head with anything; subtle, delicate and mild belgian funk and sweetness; killer!!

Time to catch up before BCTC. Bottle at PilsnerPeter’s Spring Throwdown. Thank to everyone who brought great beer and ribs and pickles and everything! Hazy pale yello wth lastng soft head. Funky sweet lemon pastry aroma. Funky lemon sugary yeasty spicy flavor. Soft and effervescent mouthfeel. Awesome. One of the best beers of the day.

Bottle, courtesy MCLK. Clear yellow golden color, frothy white head, wet lacing. Nose has sharp zest, strong Belgian yeast, dry corriander and acidic citrus. Dry Bretty graininess, sweet and salty, some dry malts. Medium-bodied, nice and balanced, nice take on the style.

RBSG 2005... Poured a hazy golden color with a small, white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of barnyard, hay, citrus and spices. Taste of chardonnay grapes, tart, green apples, more citrus, and dry yeast,

Brett and heather sitting in a tree... K-I-S-S-I-N-G. There’s a basement nearby slightly wet and full of cowebs. His coughdrop will do when you don’t like breath mints. Can you see and smell the tangerines? Delicious. Smells like Westmalle.