Lost Abbey Ne Goeien Saison

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

Bottle shared by sloth at SL. The pour was pale yellow, nice generous soda-pop looking head initially, decent lacing. The aroma was strong apples, grass, pepper. The flavor was apples, grass hops, peppers, earthy bittering type hops, slight must, but no real funky elements. Finish was extremely dry (in a good way), cleans out the mouth. A nice refreshing saision, not a standout. Thanks, Bert, for sharing!

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

Bottle: Poured a medium yellow color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and good lacing. Aroma consists of light funky yeast with a bready malt backbone. Taste is a mix between some a lightly sweet Belgian malt backbone with some slightly funky yeast notes. Body is quite full with good carbonation and no noticeable alcohol. Good but lacking some ester and character to bring this one to the next level.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

A softly vigorous pour produces a three-finger thick, pale, just barely tanned, off-white colored head. As the head slowly recedes it leaves a light lacing pattern on the sides of the glass and falls in a textured, mesa-forming manner. The beer is a hazy, pale honey color that shows a light, gold, bright straw color when held up to the light. The aroma has a nice grassy herbal hop and malt component to it that is bound by a bright citrus note that is a cross between lemon and bergamot. A musty, yeasty aroma is also found here, though this seems to dissipate somewhat quickly. Spicy notes of lemon pepper, young ginger and a hint of something earthy (a mix of clove and coriander).

Dry tasting up front, but a spicy citrus note accentuates a soft sweetness as the beer flows across the tongue. The beer is fairly light, definitely quaffable, but has a body to it that almost seems contributed by a tannic hop component. Speaking of hops, this is definitely a hoppy Saison; a nice, substantial, biting bitterness that hits the tongue fairly early in a sip and continues to linger after the beer has slid down my throat and there is an expressive, floral hop flavor here that reminds me of lightly sweetened lemon zest, a touch of lemon basil and a palate coating, sort of menthol like, perhaps a touch of rosemary-like turpenes, almost tannic hop character really boosts the hop components here. Yeast-derived flavors are here (as they should be with a Saison), but they play a slightly secondary role to the vibrant hop character; still, flavors of clove, earthy coriander, estery ginger and fruity notes of green apple and some ripe pear.

Definitely a nice example of a hoppy Saison; I can get both my hop fix and my Saison-funk fix at the same time with this beer (even though at this point the hop character is a bit more dominant the yeast characteristics). I definitely like that this has achieved the necessary dryness that a Saison really needs to hit so that it remains eminently quaffable.

Purchased: South Bay Drugs, Imperial Beach CA

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

This saison pours a light gold color from the bottle. Small sized white foamy head. The aroma is fruity, citrus and spicy. A medium bodied saison. The malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are spicy. This beer starts out fruity and sweet and finishes spicy and very dry. A little hoppy for a saison, but it works well with the dryness and spices. Lively carbonation. Nice beer. Would be an excellent stand alone or with food beer. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and dry. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.