New Holland Four Witches Black Saison

Brewed by New Holland Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Holland, Michigan USA

Serve in Tulip

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Wow. raters have not been kind here. Smells like bath soap, anise, potpourri, light roast, menthol, bath soap man. Flavor follows, anise and soap, bit of chocolate, leaves a menthol numbing of the mouth, newports, bit of doughy chocolate. Average body, bit watery, soft carbonation, but the numbing thing. Odd.

Purchased for $4 (12oz) before reading the reviews. Poured deep brown with about 1.5 fingers’ worth of uniform tan head. The aroma picked up lots and lots of licorice.. some bready malts and sweet biscuits, but it kept coming back to the licorice.. a touch of mint too.. not offensive by any means, but very one-dimensional, and a weird dimension for the style. The flavor found more, mostly sweet licorice throughout.. some cola helped support.. peppery rye and an odd, dish soap-like character around.. finished dry and earthy over more licorice.. more acidic and weird as it approached the finish.. almost like a very licoricey and minty cola. Medium-bodied with too much prickly carbonation on the palate.. too focused on the licorice.. again, non-offensive, but I really wouldn’t recommend it.

Pours a solid bubbly dark brown with light tan head, minimal lacing. Aroma gets off to a moderately poor start with having an almost out of place black licorice and tart character, with a bit of roasted malt, yeast, wheat, and bread. It’s difficult to get past the black licorice in the flavor, so not something I would want again.

Aroma is sour and licorice. Dark brown nearly black. Honestly I had to keep it ice cold to finish it, otherwise would’ve been a drain pour. Yuck.

Aroma of black licorice and a thin black pour leads to a spiced taste and warming mouthfeel. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Pours a pretty dark black with some chestnut brown light showing on the edges. One finger of mocha tan head. Has a viscosity to it I wouldn’t expect from any version of saison. Anise/licorice BIG TIME on the nose. Very light roast, almost like burnt popcorn. Flavor is bad, kind of slick and chemically. Some dark fruit and light licorice. Weird palate. Not a fan.

This starts off with a touch of roast, and hints of anise. It pours an opaque black, with a thin ring of light tan head. This beer is an anise bomb, the spicing overpowers almost everything else. There’s a hint of roast in the finish, and a bit of astringency. The beer does have a light mouthfeel, and some liveliness due to the carbonation. If the anise was toned done, and brought in line, this could be a good beer. As it is, unless you love anise, stay away from this one.

Bottle: The aroma is loaded with anise. There are some faint hints of roast and chocolate, but they struggle to come through all the anise. It pours a dark brown with some orange highlights and a two finger light brown head with okay retention before fading to a thin film. The flavor starts with a quick dose of caramel and a touch of fruit. There is some faint roast and chocolate notes in the background. The finish is heavily spiced with anise, light clove, and a touch of rye. It’s medium bodied with somewhat lively carbonation. Overall, this is just too heavy on the anise for my liking. Not that I dislike anise, but I really don’t want to drink a beer where it is such a dominant flavor. It didn’t take long for this beer to really wear on me.

deep brown with small head. there’s no mention of anise anywhere on the bottle. however that’s the predominant taste. i don’t taste any saison funk at all. just a crappy anise flavored beer. very disapponting -- i had high hopes for this.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of licorice, anise, cola, light cocoa, and a hint of rye. Poured very dark brown in color with a small, brown head around the edges only. Clear to hazy. Sparkling. Flavor is light to medium sweet. Tastes of malt, slight roasting, cola, anise, licorice, slight smoke, and some rye. Medium body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Malt, licorice, anise, slight smoke finish is medium sweet. 7.3%ABV is completely hidden throughout.