Tasting Day: Farmhouse Ales Saison

Today is the first tasting for the Farmhouse Ale Saison that I made a while back. I really let this sit in the secondary until I felt it was as clear as it was going to get.  Surprisingly the beer is not nearly as clear as I thought it was going into the bottle!

This is the recipe from the Farmhouse Ale book by Phil Markowski. Nothing more than Belgium Pilsner and American Wheat for the grain bill along with some Styrian Goldings and East Kent Goldings hops.  A bit of table sugar was added for an extra punch and to help dry it out a bit. I used the Wyeast French Saison yeast hoping for a nice dry beer with a lot of that funky farmhouse flavor that most Saisons have.

ABV = 6.8%
IBU = 29.5
SRM = 4

Appearance - Golden color that leans towards an orange color.  Has the appearance of a standard American wheat beer. Yep the one those crazy kids put oranges in.  The large white head fades pretty quickly and there is minimum lacing.

Smell - It has that traditional Saison yeast smell.  It smells like there is some sweetness to it – like honey. Slight hay or grass smell that would remind you of a barn. Orange or lemon also makes an appearance.

Mouthfeel - The carbonation is not prickly enough for a Saison.  When you think of a Dupont you think of a light bubbly refreshing beer.  This one is currently lacking that "sparkle". Wyeast says on their site that the yeast unexpected silky and rich mouthfeel.  I wouldnt call it rich but I can see where they get silky.

Taste - Not too bad.  I think if the carbonation was higher and it had more of a prickly mouthfeel it would be right in line.  My basement might not be warm enough.  Saisons are fermented at higher temps and bottle conditioned at higher temps as well. I get a bit of hay, a bit of bubble gum and even a small hint of banana from the yeast.  The bubble gum flavor is more fruity than some of the other Belgians that I have had.  Slight citrus flavor.

This seems to be lacking the pepper flavor that saisons are really known for.  

Overall - If this beer had a bit higher carbonation levels and a bit more prickle to it, I think it would be a keeper. It is a very easy to drink beer with some complex flavors from the yeast that keep you coming back for more.  It just falls a bit flat and none of the flavors tend to shine.  For example I would love for the citrus to come forward some more or even some more of the hay flavor.  When I brew again maybe a does of orange bitter peel or fresh orange zest – or even lemon – will bring this beer from a good beer to a great beer.

For now I plan to try to move the bottles to a warmer spot in the my place to see if that helps with the carbonation issue.

I will follow up if something happens after the move to a warmer temp.
Till then...

UPDATE:
I let the beer sit for two additional weeks and the results are pretty great right now.  Seems that maybe this beer needs 6 weeks in the bottle to fully mature.  I still don't have the full crispness of a Dupont Saison but this is a pretty excellent beer for my first stab at a traditional saison.