Bullfrog Saison Noire (Draft)

Brewed by Bullfrog Brewery
Style: Saison
Williamsport, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Tulip

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Draft @ Bullfrog. Pours a hazy, dulled burgundy-brown color; creamy yellowed head with decent retention and fine-bubbled lacing that sticks to the glass forever. Lots of floral notes, pepper, and honey in the aroma; musty, peppery, with just a touch of funk. Lively, almost fizzy, carbonation. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: cola, dark fruits, and brown sugar upfront; reasonably soft edges for the amount of brown sugar / cola present; some warming, honeyed sweetness at the core; light acidity, but some pepper notes and, again, plenty of carbonation to even out the sweetness. Medium finish: cola, toasty malts, and light brown sugar; well toasted.

Draft at Capone’s. Pours brown with nose of malt, brown sugar, mild fruit. Tasted malty, somewhat light in palate,with brown sugary and hop flavors, some tartness, and a bit of a lack of complexity. Decent, but not great.

UPDATED: MAY 27, 2009 On tap at the brewpub. Noses softly with a hint of tangerine, fresh bread yeast and gluten, and some light spritzy cane sugar. Pours a burnished golden-orange, with a bit of haze and a rim in white. Flavor is crisp and chewy. There’s a good run of pale citrus-like fruits, with some deeper inflected bread notes, and a distant waft of hops. This isn’t as "noire" as I expected, but it’s still a solid Saison. The hop profile is a little lower and the juicy-fruit hop character almost rings of LaChouffe, not a classic Saison strain. There is that soft, delicate cottony phenol character in the middle that adds a perfumed orange-like sensation. Good, fresh, and bright. Not an overly complex example of the style.