Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale

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

Serve in Tulip

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22 oz bottle from Winooski Beverage (May 2006), imbibed at cellar temperature or slightly below to start, from a La Chouffe tulip. A largish soft, creamy fine-bubbled off-white head tops the pale luminous clear golden body and leaves rich thick residue as it quite slowly decays....very fruity, soft, herbal-accented aroma, mandarin oranges and apricots, fennel and a bit of thyme amongst the damp earthy wafts.....the body is unsurprisingly quite sweet, lightly alcoholic with a somewhat syrupy feel throughout, a bit too sugary really with some character of unfermented sugar and none of the dryness towards the finish that you’d associate with the style, though the same loamy damp noticed in the aroma works for me....lightly smoky, citric (sweet oranges) and a touch bitter towards the end....the yeast seems more appropriate to a tripel, more sugary-caramel-sweet and ripe-fruity with barely a hint of grassy roughness....drinkable with a nose much more appealing than the flavor.

Beautiful bright orange color - initial aroma of lemon zest and orange, quickly overtaken by tart yeastiness, herbs/grass/hay, and a light toastiness - big time herbal flavor, with some hints of wheat and other grain -mild sourness, balanced by a gentle malt sweetness - coriander, orange peel, some pear/peach flavors - mild yet complex, as any great saison should be - impressive.

A great-looking beer! Thick, frothy head over a crystal clear orange body. The aroma is full and spicy with orange peels and grass. There’s an interesting smokiness to the flavor that I didn’t expect. Medium sweetness with a medium dose of hops and a gentle maltiness. The grassiness stands out. Slightly bitter and slightly sweet finish that stays with you for awhile. I can definetly notice some Belgian qualties, I guess from the Saison yeast they used.

Pours clear golden with a thin and short lasting off white head. Aroma was bready with hints of floral hops, citrus, wheat, candi sugar and brett. Hints of pinapple and cantaloupe show up in the very sweet taste. Palate is bitter with a good tropical fruit base. Overall quite good.

Poured on draft at Stirling Hotel to a nicegolden color with a quicly dissappearing head.The smell was slightly sweet and malty.The flavors were also sweet and malty with a slight hoppy aftertase.This is a good one.

UPDATED: JUN 16, 2006 [2006 bottle] Pours a clear, syrupy golden color. Aroma is bready yeast and fruits. Flavors are complex- sweet, borderline overly sweet. Nice yeast presence. Finishes kind of spicy, with floral hop notes. I really enjoy this one- another respectable brew from Smuttynose.

bottle, at Dickinsonbeer’s pre-TAP gathering. wish I knew who to thank, as I love Saisons. deep golden color, sweet malty and yeasty aroma. flavor is malty sweet for a saison, but there is also a light hop flavor, which is also unique for this style. bitterness is light, also some yeastyness.

UPDATED: MAY 17, 2006 I can’t believe I am the 3rd to try this. It pours a solid coppery/orangy color, with minimal head. The aroma is complex, giving off wafty olfactory molecules of Bretty, funky, fruity, tainty malts, female gymnastics arena, hopcitrus and candi sugar, plus some cobwebby floral and dry spicy notes. The taste is initially on the sweet side, with an initial taste blast of Bretty, candi sugary musky, damp pale malts, giving way to hopcitrus and some tropical fruit at mid-palate, and ending with dry florals and orange zest, coriander, pineapple, and canteloupe. It gets a bit hot as it warms. This one is very good.

Cloudy gold hue wears a nice white ring that shows particular skills at leaving good lacing on the glass. Soft yeast derived nose shows straightforward banana and fruit esters along with a mellow doughyness. Nothing too extraordinary here, but it discovers its powers in mouth, where the remarkably round maltiness, the secret Smuttynose weapon is the perfect match for the most excellent carbonation, the efficient bubbles being always there to accentuate this and that flavour at the right moment. Smoothly yeasty through and through, the noble hops offer conclusive aromatic support that doesn’t translate into aggressive bitterness, well extracted biscuit notes, cracker-like and altogether a fair fruit basket in there. There is definite potential of improvement, especially in regards to the use of more pungent aromatic hops, but there’s a solid basis there.

UPDATED: AUG 11, 2008 Any first impressions?
-A rich head draws impressionist lacing around the misty straw yellow/orange dawn.
-Spicy fruitiness is an important component of the aroma, while remaining hard to identify for now.
-Oranges, herbs and funky, earthy hop bitterness reign sovereign for the pleasure of all tastebuds.
-Carbonation and body are excellent for the beer’s purposes.

What if you dig deeper?
-The yeasty cushion at the back is comfortable.
-Various citrus fruit come up in the aroma.
-Biscuity malts are enjoying themselves in there.
-Quirky without being nagging, yet another very well-crafted ale from Smuttynose.
-A bottled example was thinner and not as authentic as earlier batches. Good, but not up to par with what this brewery can do. A muddled mix of Saison yeast contribution and spicy, herbal hops. From 3.7/5 to 3.2/5.

Sampled at Extreme Beer Fest ’06 and later from the bottle.