North Coast Le Merle

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Fort Bragg, California USA

Serve in Tulip

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375ml bottle into a tulip. Pours a nearly clear medium gold with a huge billowy white head. The head sticks around seemingly forever leaving huge globs of lacing on the sides of the glass. Spicy aroma with pear, orange, and lemon that is very typical of a Saison. Nothing off at all that I can detect. Flavor is more pear and lemon with a little bit of orange. There is some bready malt detectable in the background. While bitterness leans towards the light side the mouthfeel is very dry as any good saison should be leaving some lingering spice on the palate. Overall, a really good example of the style although there is nothing that really stands out as unique. Nonetheless it is one that I would drink on a regular basis if it was cheaper.

Draft at Strange Brew. Pours a hazy orange yellow in color with a small white head. Smell is typical spicey, lemon, and bread. Taste follows with a peppery bite and citrus notes. Solid offering, easy to drink, just nothing that "wows" me.

Gold pour with big white head. Beautiful. Great yeasty spicy aroma. Delicious. Slightly bitter, sweet and buttery. Big fruity flavor (e.g., mangoes!) Very smooth.

Bouteille 750ml. De couleur dorée et voilée. Nez de levures fruitées (agrumes, léger de poires et de pommes, traces de pêches) et moyennement épicées (poivre doux, notes de coriandre), moyen de houblon herbeux, légèrement citrique et aux notes florales, léger de pain avec des traces d’alcool. Moyennement ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen-élevé ainsi qu’une texture légèrement huileuse et aux petites notes crémeuses. Goût de levures fruitées (agrumes aux notes acides, léger de poires et de pêches, traces de pommes), épicées (poivre doux, coriandre) et aux faibles notes terreuses dès l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un moyen goût de pain avec des notes d’alcool et de céréales sucrées puis en finale l’on retrouve une légèrement amer de houblon herbeux aux notes citriques, florales et épicées. Post-goût long et légèrement sec, composé d’un goût de levures fruitées (zeste d’agrumes, notes de pelures de pêches) et épicées (poivre doux) avec une légère amertume de houblon herbeux et floral.

A - A hazy golden honey body with a generous amount of white foam. Very pretty. No lacing. S - Sour Granny Smith apples, lemons, white grapes, earthy yeast, soapy hops, spicy Belgian yeast. T - Green apples, tart cherries, lemon, pears, faint banana. The acidic fruit showcases a bold sweet pale malt. Heavy wheat towards the finish. Finishes with slightly sweet mineral citrus flavors then turns pretty dry right at the very end with lots of wheat. M - Uber champagne carbonation fills the whole mouth with foamy bubbles on every drink. It basically robs half of the potential flavors. It’s almost hard to swallow. Get ready to belch...alot! This is a fruit filled Saison that I wish wasn’t bombarded with fizzy carbonation, because it had so much potential. The carbonation really hurts the flavors and the overall enjoyment of drinking this beer. Serving type: bottle 03-31-2011

Bottle vintage 2012 - Citrus, earthy hops and some light barnyard and yeast. Thick medium head cloudy gold. Banana with some citrus and a yeasty finish. Very rich mouthfeel. Not as refreshing as I would have hoped. Strong and rich which makes it off for me in this style.

Faintly sweet and buttery aroma. Pale appearance - kind of looks like a pale lager, white head. Taste is slightly sweet and yeasty, a bit of bread. Not a lot going on here. Okay.

Aromatic tropical fruit aroma of pineapple and light honey notes. Clean finish with moderate bitterness and some spice.

3 oz taster at Black Bottle Brewery. Golden and hazy with a white head. Aroma of yeast, spices, floral hops and light fruit. Similar flavor with a crisp feel and a dry finish. Not bad.

Color is a hazy golden yellow with a med white head. I smell fruits, yeast and malt. I taste all of the same with spice, a little banana and light hops in the finish. Very good saison.