Dusky magenta hue…plummy? backside of a grape peel? It's a tough one to peg. Not quite lavender, nowhere near red. I like it, though. Beautiful. Under a slim, solid, eggshell head.
Aroma: spicy, bready rye malt hits first, citrus beneath, somewhere. Other flavors you may look for in a saison are hidden, masked, and obliterated by the rye malt. but I really don't care, for the flavor makes up for that.
Taste: rich and full in the mouth, a pumpernickel loaf on the palate. I don't want to be the broken record, but "spicy, bready" keeps coming back. The malt character dominates, and the hop presence is here, too, but in a minor capacity. Stays on the sidelines, staving away excessive sweetness.
Abundant flavor inside the mouth, spilling spice, sweetness and hop bitterness all over the place. Non-stop tingle-ation. Tasty and terrific stuff. some dark fruit flavor comes in, some raisin, some berry, …a little clove. Dark, toasty, and delicious.
This is not by any stretch a true saison (although, Belgian breweries are beginning to innovate within this category some), but damned if it isn't just plain good. Delivers everything you want, even if it blurs so many lines. Any if it delivers where it counts, who cares about the rest of it?
Can you taste the saison underneath? Not in the slightest, but it is just the base on which to innovate, bringing the rye and the hops to make something of another level. Got to love the end result. Another case of American innovation taking things to another step. Here's to eighteen more, Avery!
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