Wild Beer Epic Saison

Brewed by Wild Beer
Style: Saison
Shepton Mallet, England

Serve in Tulip

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330ml bottle. Pours cloudy amber with a good white head and lacing throughout. Incredible aroma, tropical fruits, citrus and a touch of malt. Flavours of mango and papaya give way to citrus, intense hops and a little spice. Ends with very late bitter finish that lasts. Smooth, with moderate carbonation. Surprisingly complex and delicious.

Bottle. A gusher when the bottle was opened but a quite flat beer appears after all the fucking cleaning up. A bad start for this beer but my mood soon lifts after one sniff - soap (not bad though), lemon and spice. Flavour has much the same as the aroma with a hint of the saison funk and a pithy orange finish. Very good.

On tap at CBC, London. It pours a clear golden colour with a nice soapy white head. Nose is yeasty and spicy. Taste is yeast, spices, farmhouse, dust and lactose. Some orange peel. Medium bodied with good carbonation. Overall, nicely balanced and very refreshing.

3rd December 2012
Craft Clerkenwell. Also a bottle on the 14th December. Hazy gold beer, good white head. Nice nose of floral vanilla oak. Palate is crisp and light. Sharp minerals. Slightly tart citrus, grapefruit and a little apricot. Light vanilla oak in good balance, but is this beer BA? Must be the Sorachi providing that cream then. Smooth finish. Intriguing and tasty and easily the best I’ve tried from this new brewery.

Grabbed a 330ml bottle while in St. Andrews - St. Andrew’s Wine (they sell beer too!). It was a truly baltic day in the old Kingdom of Fife so this was a treat well worth waiting for. Poured into a small tumbler (*slaps wrist*) it produced a snow coloured head. Light orange body, with a waft of sweet hops. Hints of vanilla, very light caramel notes. A smooth palate. Not too lively. Can’t wait to get me grubby mitts on some other brews from Wild Beer Co.

Keg@colston yard, Bristol. Hazy burnished gold with lacing of white head. Tangerines and the unmistakable hay and bubblegum notes of sorachi hops. Dry, bitter pithy, hay, shortcake, medium bodied.

Pours initially clear golden with some haziness later. Big white head of tiny bubbles and good meringue-like finish to the head. Lively bubbles rising up from the centre of the glass, remeniscent of Saison Dupont. Huge overpowering hop scent from Sorachi Ace. Perfume, lemon blam, wild flowers, tangerine scent. Soft sweetness quickly gives way to the enormous whack of hops resulting in a very brief spell of farmhouse ale characteristics, only to be overpowered by the hops. Rosemary, tangerine, and grapefruit with a strong bitter finish like biting into the skin of a grapefruit. Great attempt to a Belgian style Saison but overpowered with huge hops creating a slightly unbalanced beer.

Bottle from Cotteridge Wines. Hazy gold, with a big frothy head, which heartwarming indeed. I always forget what makes Saisons unique, but thèn I drink one and remember. So I’ve remembered. Has a Belgian nose and a flavour which is wheaty, but also very dry, like plaster. Has a sort of staleness which is deliberate and compelling. Good tart finish. Like. Now go away.

330ml bottle from Ales By Mail, drunk today. Clear gold. Pours a large, fluffy white head, which lasts very well. Good lacing. Slightly lively on opening, with foam emerging slowly from the bottle, but only med carbonation in the glass. Aroma - Strange. Odd, slightly funky, sticky hop aroma, which i guess is the Sorachi Ace - Lemony-zesty, soft spicy/peppery, bit woody, estery, with strange sweet fruit aromas (unusual tropical, plus a bit of sweet mandarin) and bubblegum, and a bit of sour, tangy yeastyness. Complex & strange, but pleasant. Bit of spicy, maltiness. Taste - Lightly bitter-sweet. Lightly sweet, light caramel malt. Nice, soft, sweet fruit flavours (bit tropical, bit sweet mandarin & apricot) & spice, balanced with some juicy, lightly bitter hop flavours and drier lemon notes. Bit of dry, Belgian sour yeastiness, plus esters. Strange, drier spicy flavours on finish; dry, lightly bitter, with some tangy, spicy, peppery flavours left on aftertaste - nice & interesting, to keep you coming back for more. Soft, minerally palate, with light carbonation. Med body. An interesting beer, with a novel aroma (at least for me!); pretty unusual for a saison; nice, odd Sorachi Ace flavours & aromas. Good fruity flavours, with a dry, spicy finish that refreshes.

Bottle at home. Pours a clear orange with a big, fluffy pillowy head. Bright tropical fruits on the nose, something waxy, some booze and a definite hint of spicy, soapy Sorachi funk. Surprisingly bitter, really quite tangy. Orange pith, white pepper. Just a hint of soft malt, the farmhouse thing doesn’t really appear until it opens up but that’s ok. Waxy lemon rind bitterness on the finish. Soft, creamy carbonation, really spot-on actually. Really quite unique - I wasn’t convinced to begin with, but it’s a good ’un!