Saison Blanc - The Lost Abbey

womencantsail

California

3.8/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

On-tap at Lost Abbey

A: This one pours a clear golden yellow color with a big (couple of fingers) white head and very impressive lacing.

S: A big time yeast aroma with a strong earthy funk to it. A lot of black pepper and some strong raisin notes. A lot of phenolics and a mild cheesiness. Other fruit notes such as golden dates and pears.

T: The pepper and spicy phoenols are strong on the front end. This beer is quite dry with a mild bitterness and some grassy and earthy hop notes. Light, cracker malts with a more subdued fruit character. A touch of sweet raisins and dates is about it.

M: Light to medium in body with a strong effervescence and the aforementioned dry finish.

D: The nose on this was quite nice, but the flavor wasn't quite there for me.

Serving type: on-tap

02-22-2011 19:07:52 | More by womencantsail

Thorpe429

Illinois

3.58/5  rDev -5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Reviewed from notes.

Pour yields a straw-golden brew with a pretty good white head and some nice lacing on the way down. The nice brings some light golden fruits and a bit of an earthy character. Moderate spice in the background. The flavor is a bit too spicy without enough of that fruit coming back in. Some light grain in the background. Light body with good carbonation and a very dry finish. Pretty good, but not one of the better saisons I've come across.

Serving type: on-tap

05-18-2011 10:31:58 | More by Thorpe429

UCLABrewN84

California

3.78/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap at Library Ale House in Santa Monica, CA.

Pours a murky honey orange with a foamy khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, grain, spices, yeast, and some peppery aromas. Taste is much the same along with some earthy and herbal flavors. There is a medium peppery bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer that is drinkable but the bitterness on this one is weird.

Serving type: on-tap

08-27-2012 00:05:10 | More by UCLABrewN84

HopHead84

California

4.13/5  rDev +9.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

2/12/2011

Pilot batch on tap at the Red Poppy release. From what I remember, this is similar to a Wit bier recipe sans coriander and orange peel with a heavy dose of Nelson, some green raisin, and some French oak. 

A: Bright straw golden with a slight haze and an impressive frothy white head. Retention is great and the many bubbles feed the head for quite some time. Lacing is excellent.

S: Grassy and earthy with spicy phenols reminiscent of clove and white pepper. Green raisins are faint and oak is also restrained. Hops come through nicely.

T: Upper moderately bitter with a clove-like spiciness and some white pepper. Hops are grassy with a little gooseberry and some grapefruit. Green grapes and oak are both subtle.

M: Upper light body with high carbonation. 

Overall: Really refreshing and drinkable. I'm eager to try the final product.

Serving type: on-tap

02-13-2011 19:12:29 | More by HopHead84

blackie

Virginia

4.2/5  rDev +11.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

a: served in a standard shaker pint, saison blanc is a medium clear golden color, capped with a bone white head that shows good retention

s: crisp, clean pilsner malt structure, lots of citrusy herb, lemon, glimpses of grapefruit, fresh grass, fresh phenolic spices are a great compliment, really like this

m: carbed to a medium-high level, lighter and body, crisp and refreshing on the palate

t: snappy-clean pils malt body, dry, brightly grassy and citrus pith hops, peppery phenol, lemony herb, drying finish with a hint of grapefruit, very clean and sharp to finish, quite nice

o: love the cleanliness and herbal citrus character here, it's snappy and highly drinkable, very much enjoyed

draft at Falling Rock, Denver

Serving type: on-tap

04-12-2011 23:46:25 | More by blackie

ngeunit1

California

4/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Served a hazy golden-orange color with a finger of frothy thick white head. The head fades down very slowly leaving behind some good lace.

S - Aroma is a mix of sweet malts with some lemon, funk, grain, farmhouse smells, and a bit of coriander.

T - Starts off with some wheat, lemon zest, light spice and funk, and a bit of coriander. Through the middle, more lemon comes through with some tartness, grain, and funk. The finish is a mix of lemon, wheat, yeast, and funk.

M - Medium-light bodied with moderate lively carbonation. Feels smooth with a dry and crisp finish.

D - Very drinkable. Nice sessionable Saison with good balance throughout.

Serving type: on-tap

04-10-2012 05:20:42 | More by ngeunit1

ArrogantB

Colorado

4/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap at the Falling Rock and served in a pint glass. Bright yellow-orange. Smells very interesting, spicy and sweet, floral, smells good. The taste was also sweet and made me think of honey and then spices. Overall this was a nice saison although it did have a bevy of different flavors so it was a little more intense than most saisons I'm used to.

Serving type: on-tap

05-08-2011 18:59:41 | More by ArrogantB

ehammond1

California

2.93/5  rDev -22.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

On Tap

Lost Abbey
San Marcos, CA

A clear golden yellow with a big, thick white head. Plenty of lacing. A beautiful pour.

A yeasty and fruity aroma. Some mild funk, black pepper and sweet white fruit.

A tasty enough saison, at least initially, but there's a lingering, unwelcome aftertaste I really can't get past. The initial swallow is slightly more bitter than I like, though it is accompanied by flavors of tasty and funky yeast, pepper, and sweet fruits, but this beer leaves me with an unpleasant, unwelcome, almost chemically aftertaste. Unfortunate.

A thin to medium mouthfeel with plenty of carbonation.

All good, except for the aftertaste, which makes this a decidedly average saison in my books, and not one I'm likely to revisit again, unfortunately.

Serving type: on-tap

06-16-2011 04:30:25 | More by ehammond1

augustgarage

California

3.85/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

On-tap @ Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood - 5.4% ABV, brewed with white pepper and green raisins - served in a tulip.

Hazy golden-yellow body with a messy smattering of beige marshmallow fluff. Thick tendrils of lacing; glossy tears; good retention.

Spicy nose with a mix of phenols and Muntok peppercorn. There is an herbal, nearly vegetal quality as well, and hints of white grape emerge as the ale warms.

White pepper is first on the palate, a biting dryness with hints of fruit peeking out from the margins. Herbal hops contribute a mild to moderate bitternes, while the earthy phenolic finish is suggestive of Brett., though I think these flavors are coming from the white pepper entirely. The profile is rounded out by a touch of winter fruit and a slight minerality or gooseberry.

Crisp, cutting, slightly more than light-bodied mouthfeel. Well carbonated but I'd prefer a bit more effervescence...my preference for bottle conditioning for this style lives on.

Reminds me a little bit of Boulevard's Saison Brett at times, though the fermented earthy spiciness is all from peppercorn I think. Refreshing, dry, unusual, and the perfect foil to salty food, though some may find it fatiguing.

Serving type: on-tap

03-29-2011 03:25:31 | More by augustgarage

impending

California

3.58/5  rDev -5%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

B

TapRoom Pacific Beach

Served a hazed pale yellow dull, white head, minor lacing.

Aroma is mild sweet with a mix of light skinned fruits. Citrusy hops provide a strong background.

Strong hop citrus again in the flavor. Lighty fruity. No dry bite, just a darting pepper accent. Mild bitter aftertaste which is long lived slowly fading hops. Thin to medium bodied lively mouthfeel.
uncannily an identical twin of Port Brewing Spaceman Series: Saison

cheers
jd

Serving type: on-tap

09-03-2012 23:52:50 | More by impending

robbyc1

Illinois

3.98/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This beer was listed at 4.5% abv at the Pizza Port in Ocean Beach CA. Very clean light gold good white lace and clearish. Clean esthers w no funk, but a good dry finish with light maltiness. A very easy drinking saison, served in a tulip. Nicely refreshing with a silky mouthfeel. Not my favorite saison bit quite an achievement if truly a session ale at 4.5%. Go lost abey, keep it up.

Serving type: on-tap

05-24-2011 02:59:04 | More by robbyc1

jethrodium

California

4.13/5  rDev +9.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4

On tap at Beer Revolution. Pours a hazy light amber with a two finger white head that sticks around for a long time and leaves a large amount of lacing on the glass. The aroma is some black pepper, a bit of earthy funkiness, and some light lemon. A bit of clove as well. The initial taste is dry with some black pepper, then comes a bit of funkiness with some earthy mineral notes and some light grass. The finish is clean and really dry. This beer was really dry throughout, which I enjoy. Medium body. Medium carbonation. Quite a nice saison. I hope they brew this one regularly.

Serving type: on-tap

11-23-2011 05:09:29 | More by jethrodium

Cavery

California

3.13/5  rDev -17%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Blue Palms 3rd Anniversary Party, had on tap.

A: Completely transparent hay body with some shimmering orange fish scales. White grape flesh and some rays of beach sunsets. Quite a foamer from the tap pour, and a huge filter of silkscreen lacing smothers the inside of the glass. Reasonable head retention rounds out a decent visual.

S: Lively pungent golden raisins, and some honey floral sweetness. A slight hint of spice that cuts the sweetness for only a minute, before the ingredients catch back up with the brew. Really this smells so sweet, and there's no funk to really break the smothering sweetness. Lots of vinous dessert wine qualities.

T: The taste actually isn't too sweet -- golden raisins with a drier emptiness that you'd expect to be sweeter. Some very light honey blends with milky flowers for an awkward creamy faux-tea taste. A bit of vague plant stems fills some of the gaps where you might expect some more complexity, or earthy funk. However, this remains more wine-like than earthy.

M: Dry light-medium body with a velvet coating. The mouth really takes over as you drink, it invaded my lips from contact. Not unpleasant, but very contagious. This has an infectious low-grade velvet sandpaper mouth-feel that will not leave the lips out of it. The brew drinks very much like wine over these textures.

O: This really was a bit of a bummer for me, I found a lot of the flavors to be almost watery. There's some interesting harmony with the mixes of milky florals, light raw honeys, and golden raisins; but it's lost in a boring too-subtle-did-not-listen kind of way. This beer shows potential for nuances, but the flavor needs an upgrade to highlight the subtleties. Right now the mouth feels like the mouth of a much better drink than the flavor provides. Hopefully this is tweaked a bit more in time. Also, the strange cut in flavor in the middle of the beer just comes off weird, is it the pepper? That needs to go, or be overhauled.

Serving type: on-tap

08-14-2011 04:10:25 | More by Cavery