Bullfrog Phree

Brewed by Bullfrog Brewery
Style: Saison
Williamsport, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Tulip

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UPDATED: JUN 13, 2008 Rerate, Draft @ Bullfrog, aged 10 months. Pours a hazy honey-yellow color; off-white head with patchy lacing. Solid amounts of brettiness in the aroma, much more than before: citrus, grapefruit, even a touch of lime and mildly funked; very nicely developed at this point. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: chewy Belgian sugar, citrus, and toasted malts and grapefruit; the brettiness, again, is really showing itself nicely without huge levels of tartness: grapefruit and toasted citrus. Very, very drinkable. Lengthy finish: breadiness, dough, and some lingering citrus. 8.3.8.4.16=3.9

12oz handbottle, courtesy of mj. Thanks, Mike! Pours a hazy, bright golden-orange; large-bubbled white head with web-like lacing. Dense, floral and candy sugar aroma; orange and heavily spiced. Medium, chewy mouthfeel: not a strong brett presence at this point; chewy esters, Belgian sugars, and floral notes; exceedingly chewy and overly viscous to be a refreshing saision, but still tasty and filling stuff. Lengthy, Belgian sugar and estery finish; this would be even better with some age and time for the brett. 8.4.7.3.14=3.6

On tap at Penn Brew Fest 08. Poured a hazy reddish amber color with an off white head. Aroma was fruity and really spicy, some pepper and cloves. Flavor was also pretty spicy, but not overly done, nice and smooth and hides the alcohol very well.

On tap at the brewpub. Salty orange rind and yeast bread dough aroma. Some older, dusty Brett adds a bit of fruit flesh complexity. Pours a clouded golden orange, with a silky white lace. Flavor is rich, dense and incredibly yeasty, both in the minerally way from the Saison and the dry, tart way from the Brett. And interesting combo of yeast characters. There’s a lot of spice complexity, but it lays pretty subtle in this beer. Flavors are integrated well. The palate ends a little too sticky, sweet and low on carbonation. Hop presence minimal. I think the sweetness and the heavy yeast hand are just a little too overbearing to make this beer amazing. I do appreciate the crispness from the Brett.

this one i likes a lot. grape must in the nose and flavor, a decnt amount of hops and i love the anise and pepper kick. smooth and exciting, but it could have had a bit more of the brett.

Hand-bottle from Kramer. Big thanks. A bit too sweet, malty aroma. Peppery, lemongrass. Needs more spice, yeast, less malt. Kind of muddy, muddled flavor, lots going on, but nothing seems to come together. A lot of potential here but things just don’t quite work.

A soft pour produces a scant, frothy, off-white colored head that sits on top a honey colored beer. When held up to the light it shows a hazy, copper color. The beer is quite fruity smelling with notes of apple, pear and even ripe melon; this has both the aromatic fruit floral notes as well as a fruity tartness to it. The beer is quite spicy, which melds very well with the fruitiness; phenolic spice notes of clove, earthy spice notes similar to coriander and perhaps a touch of sage as well as spicy aromas reminiscent of black pepper and sweet young ginger. The finish has an aroma similar to biscuits and cracked, lightly toasted wheat.

A soft carbonation contributes a touch of peppery fizz, but the spicy flavors in this beer also seem to contribute an apparent, texture. This is quite spicy, almost hot with complex, peppery, higher alcohol notes and spice notes. This has a light-medium body to it that seems quite dry at first due to all the spiciness, but actually picks up a touch of malt sweetness towards the finish after the first couple of sips. Tasty phenols mix with esters and spice notes to produce flavors similar to cloves, woody black-pepper, dried ginger and earthy coriander. Fruit flavors of aromatic apple varietals, star-fruit, not quite ripe melon, herbal honey and under-ripe plum are all found in the flavor; accentuated just a bit by the light sweetness, but also by a soft tartness. I almost didn’t notice, but not because they are subtle, but there is a nice herbal component to this beer that seems to be quite hop driven; grassy, herbal and a touch green, the hop notes mix in pretty well with the spice notes to offset the fruitiness.

A very tasty brew, while not overtly influenced by the Brettanomyces yet (I would love to have a bottle conditioned bottle of this to let sit), it is incredibly spicy & complex from both fermentation character and spices. I really like how expressive both the aroma and flavor are, this beer almost shouts to be noticed and the loud notes actually are not overwhelming or unbalanced.

hand bottle generously shared by Puzzl. Not much in the appearance department but no points off cause of the hand bottle. I can’t believe there is no peach in this cause that’s all I taste. Plenty malty from the Brett with just a hint of pepper. I don’t get a hell of a lot more.

Growler, two day old. Pours a hazy gold with a large tight bubbled white head that left some spotty lacing. The nose is lightly bretty with more spice than anything. Smells peppery and fruity with distinct coriander and to a lesser extent the anise. The flavor is more brett influenced than the aroma, a hefty dose of sweaty and farmhouse flavors linger on in the finish. A lot of pepperyness as well. Lots of hay like wheat everywhere. Can’t say that I dig the use of anise in here, but it does add a certain uniqueness to it. Mouthfeel is pretty dry with a good dose of soft fizzy carbonation. There’s a bit of a doughy feel to it on the finish. Wish I could have had a glass of this when it was first released to see what an extra 10 months of aging did to it. Pretty enjoyable though on a hot night.

Sampled from 22oz hand bottle courtesy of egajdzis. Poured a medium and hazy golden color with a large sized white head. Aromas of citrus, spices, sweaty, and yeast. Tastes of spices, yeast, and citrus. Some light funkiness in the background.

Poured a hazy orange color with a medium sized, fluffy, white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of coriander, orange peel, citrus fruits, yeast, and anise. Taste was yeasty, with pepper, coriander, more anise, and a slight tartness from the brett. I certainly could have gotten into this more without the anise. Thanks Mike!

Thanks to egajdzis for sharing this hand bottle. Pours a lightly hazy golden with a nice creamy/bubbly white head. Aroma of Saison spices, mixed citrus, some bready malt and apricot notes. Flavor of Saison spicy notes, orange, peppery, just hints of some Brett, dry and fruity.