Coronado Brewing Saison by the Sea

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Sampled on 1/2/2009. This saison pours a copper color from a 22oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head with nice retention and decent lacing. The aroma is fruity and sweet, spicy and yeasty. A medium bodied saison. The malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are earthy and floral. A somewhat spicy saison, with lots of fruit flavors; pear, melon and pineapple flavors, with coriander, ginger and some lemon zest. It’s a touch sweet and a little too spicy/fruity for a saison. Touch of spearmint at the finish. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is sweet and spearmint.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottle Date 08.08.08; Sampled August 2008
As I pour this into my 25cl tulip glass it is quite obviously spicy and aromatic with notes of earthy coriander and freshly grated ginger being quite prominent. The beer pours with a three finger thick, light tan colored head. The beer is a ruddy, amber color that shows a hazy, amber-tinged, copper color when held up to the light. The spices clearly dominate the aroma of this beer, with the two mentioned spice notes being the most prominent. There are also aromas of clove, candied apple, dusty slight stale cracker like malt, woody pepper in the nose, some nail polish and a concentrated pear note.

Lightly sweet, which accentuates fruity flavors of pear, some light sweetened lemon zest and sweet apple cider. The spice flavors actually numb the tongue a bit with the prominent ginger and turpene-driven clove notes. Finishes a bit on the warm side from both the piquant spice character and some touches of higher alcohols. This definitely has an earthy spiciness to it, certainly contributed by the yeast character, but there might also be a touch of coriander here (though then again maybe not). Really gets phenolic, especially as it warms up; strong clove notes are joined by lacquer and nail polish flavors that, while not overwhelming or harsh, are definitely noticeable. Medium bodied for a saison, though I would not say it has too much heft, though I prefer both a drier and lighter version of the style.

Very spicy interpretation of a Saison; they used both a very spicy yeast strain and chose to spice it quite well were one or the other probably would have sufficed. Not bad and even somewhat tasty, it just comes off as being a bit overboard.

Purchased: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach CA