Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale

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

Ruddy orange and hazy with a diminishing head which provides some lacing. Aromas feature strong yeast, some lemon, lavander and floral notes, and a musky peat background. Bitter up front, with a healthy hop middle and a mild finish. Some soapy, grapefruit flavors from the hops and an overall slick mouthfeel. This feels like an updated saison, not what you would expect alongside saison dupont or another classic. Still, the hops bring some punch to the beer and the effort to make a tasty, unique beer in this style is successful.

Oh how I do revel in these Smutty big beer releases. Always so tasty, always so big. 22oz. is a lot for 3.99 (my local Whole Foods price). So, here we go kiddies. Pours a lovely cloudy apricot hue with a cozy, creamy head. Smells of bready yeast and a tad of stone fruit. Oh a beguiling brew this one is. Like the step cousin who was a little too hot for comfortable family reunions, this beer teases in all the right ways. It is not out-right fruity, that sector of tasteville held in restrain from the abundant rustic yeast flavors, but there certainly are touches of apricot and peach to this brew. As stated, yeasty, earthy flavors have a well staked claim here, as does a light mintiness. Really tasty for the style and another no-brainer from Smutty. Quaff deep the dregs of life. Proost!

Slight fruity malt and yeast aroma. Cloudy orange color. Fizzy with a large dirty white head. Tangy malt flavor with a mild finish.

22oz bottle at Brickskellar, bottle conditioned, 2006 vintage. Pours nearly clear, striking gold in color with a soft off-white head. I know this is supposed to be a saison but it smells like a spiced triple, and is a little heavy on the acetaldehyde I think. The nose is so incredibly heavy on the sweet candy sugar it’s unreasonable. The aroma bites the nose with a peppery, almost boozy quality, the sugars especially are overpowering in the aroma, with peppery spices helping that right along. Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, but it just smelled like someone threw this togethor, packed a lot of candy sugar to up the alcohol, and spiced it up, only because big beer is the trend now, and without consideration for how it actually smelled. Where is the yeast character? There’s none. I’m complaining and I haven’t even tasted it yet. Sounds like I hate it already but I don’t, I’m just being critical because that’s what beer geeks do. Flavorwise it’s ok-to-good, it has a ton of sugar, a ton of peppery, sharp spices, but again none of the spices really do much other than bite, they simply don’t taste very good and don’t go with the body of the beer at all. The bite is similar to apple cider, and in fact the flavor resembles apples quite a bit, I don’t know if this is the actual grain bill and yeast doing this or if it’s acetaldehyde. Still, an interesting beer but I think for all of the wrong reasons. Saison does not need this kind of treatment to be delicious and special.

was really impressed with the nose of this beer early on. had coconut on the nose, then as it warmed a good melon grapefruit flavour. nice intresting beer but its goota be nice and cold.

22oz bottle from MrBendo. Aroma: Medium sweet maltiness with a light wheat malt note. Spices, orange zest, and some light floral hoppiness. Some very light horseiness comes through as it warms. Appearance: Dark honey in color and lightly hazed. Off-white head is full and foamy with good retention. Good lacing. Flavor: Sweet maltiness upfront, again with a light wheat note. Floral and citrus, Spice and herb, Caramel and yeast. Some light musty horseblanket. Light bitterness and a sweet finish. Palate: Medium bodied. Medium-high carbonation. Overall: Pretty good, but a little too sweet throughout. Could have used some more hops, too.

22oz bottle 2006 vintage. pours clear copper with white head. nose has flowers, touch of spice, yeast, and slight english toffee. flavor is yeasty, slight orange, crisp, earthy, spicy note in the background. this is tasty and fun to drink but it’s too sweet and not dry enough to be a great saison.

Is there a bad saison? Smuttynose produces a competent saison that simulates, with bolder taste, your conventional farmhouse saison, horseblanket et al.I aged this and so the yeast is diminished and smooth flavour is in every sip over a complex lunch.