Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

On tap at Zeno’s. Citrusy funky hop nose, sour honey and some yeasty goodness. Pear and apricot, wirh sour apple. Cloudy otange-amber, with thin off-white lacing head. Medium bodied with light carbontion. Starts with bubblegum and chalky spicy notes, orange blossom and honey. Sweet malt, light chalky yeasty goodness, and mild dry finish. Very mild to medium tasty beer, very reminiscent of a saison or biére de garde. Light bitter floral and honey-orange sweet after. Good job.

pours a nice golden color with a creamy white head. aroma has big fruity yeast with some pepper spice. mouthful is quite zesty with citrus with a little spicy finish.

Tap at Barcade: Cloudy golden/orange pour topped by a creamy white, lasting head. Lots of spicy citrus in the aroma. Hints of orange peel, white pepper and light yeast esters. Thick velvety carbonation. Lots of citrusy flavors, mostly oranges, coriander and white pepper spiciness and a mild floral character. A nice, citrusy Saison.

Hazy golden color with a smallish, light ecru head. Sweet aromas of malt, wheat, thistles and oranges. Touch of yeast with weeds and biscuit dough. Quite sweet with oranges and honey in the front and middle. Dries out slightly in the finish and the linger. Some light spice of mace and cardamom. The sweetness keeps getting in the way. Like a strong tea with a couple of spoonfuls of honey, some nice flavors but after awhile, it just gets too saccharine.

I wasn’t too big a fan of this beer, but I rated it higher than I would have because I’ve had enough Saison’s at this point to realize that I don’t like them, so I am being generous on the "overall" category. The beer had too much bitterness that wasn’t associated with the hops, almost like a skunkyness, that I attributed to the off kilter spices that Saisons usually use. Too much corriander it tasted like.

22oz. Bottle: Smells earthy, grassy, and herbal with notes of spices, and pepper. Poured yellow/amber/orange in color with a large, fizzy, rocky white head that lasted throughout. Very good lacing. Hazy. Lightly sparkling. Tastes of pepper, yeast, spices, herbs, and bitter hops. Medium body. Chalky texture. Average to lively carbonation. Bitter, herbal, peppery finish. A nice Saison.

Bottle courtesy of JJPM74: Poured a deep orangey color ale with a big foamy head with good retention but minimal lacing. Aroma of fruity ester with some nice medium sweet Belgian malt. Taste is also dominated by some nice fruity ester probably coming from the yeast that was used with some nice medium sweet Belgian malt and a subtle dry hoppy ending. Body was quite full with a somewhat oily texture and some good carbonation. I thought this was a bit too sweet and somewhat cloying when compared to the staples of the style.

Draft poured into a tulip at the Dirty Truth. The flavors were citrus, grassy hops, and a sweet honey-like sweet finish. This was a little sweet for the style, but the grassy hops and acidic bite make it almost as good as it’s Belgian counterparts. Smuttynose is great at trying new styles in their "big beer" series.