Hilliard’s Saison

Brewed by Hilliard’s Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Seattle, Washington USA

Serve in Tulip

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My 100th Saison! WooHoo! And from a can, to boot. How awesome is that! Pours yellow, with a big white head. Very yeasty, spicy grassy aroma. Flavor is spicy, lots of yeasty notes, hint of banana and clove. Really tasty, actually. Thanks to curly for the trade!

Can. Appearance is a faded yellow and golden color with dense off-white head and thick lacing patterns around the glass. Strong honey, clove and yeast notes in the aroma as well as some banana and pear. The taste leads off with tart lemon citrus and Belgian yeast notes followed by bitter, grassy hops, honey and malt. The mouthfeel is medium-bodied with champagne-like carbonation along with a dry, sour finish. It’s a little on the tart and acidic side but definitely worth a try for canned beer and Saison hunters.

Pleasant, easy-drinking saison, yet it lacks real depth. Light and fluffy texture. Gentle notes of banana, bubblegum, clove and white pepper. Slight sourness and a very mild bitterness in the finish. Flavors and aromas are decent up front, but they seem to fade fast.

Can from Chuck’s 85th. Pours a hazy yellow with a generous fluffy white head, probably around two or three fingers. Smell is a bit funky and crisp citrus. Taste is a bit yeasty, a bit tart, maybe a bit more bitter. Bit of coriander and hay. Crisp taste and clean finish. Drinkable canned Saison.

Can at the brewery. Pours a hazy golden yellowish orange. Nice, traditional banana and clove/spice notes on the nose, and a full flavor to back it up. It doesn’t have quite the effervescence I like in a saison, and I wish it had a bit more of that "dusty" quality you sometimes see in the style... but this is tasty, and I love supporting the local brewhouses!

Can from Malt & Vine. Pours hazy gold with a creamy/foamy white head. Aromas of fruit and something barnyard. Med body. Flavor is sort of citrus/wit with a trace of barnyard. Truthfully this seems closer to something like an Imperial Wit than a saison. But arguably it fits the style. Which is irrelevant as to whether the beer is good. It is! If a case of this washed up on my desert isle, I would be overjoyed.

16-oz can. Long live the tallboy. The herringbone tallboy, that is. Pours a cloudy medium yellow with a loose and lightly sudsy white head. Big funky nose, even a tiny bit bretty, showing barnyard. Creamy medium body with lively carb. Bits of lemon and light barnyard on the mid palate. Not bad.

Clear golden color with white foam. Dry hay, white bread, dry spice aromas. Light to medium bodied with average co2. Nice dusty pale malt, citrusy wheat, dry spice, fruity flavors--very good

Nose is light, some estery sweet spicy yeast, a little dust, a little wheat, a little lemon. Pours hazy light yellow orange, thin head. The flavor is light, decently spicy, a little estery sweet fruitiness. Light lemon, pepper, wheat. Balanced, a little sharp alcohol in the finish, clean, no overly assertive, but well made and solid.