Grassroots / Jackie O's Autumn Saison - Grassroots Brewing

MusicaleMike

Pennsylvania

3.91/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 3.5

Had on draft at Blue Dog. From their website: "An Autumn Saison painstakingly brewed with locally grown, organic pumpkins from our friend Ben (Ben’s Pumpkins!). Joined by Shaun, Dan, and Brad from Jackie O’s - this Autumn Saison was naturally carbonated and gently spiced..."

Served in a tulip glass. Hazy gold body with a white cap of foam that receded to a small ring of lace at the edge of the glass. Not much carbonation showing through here. The head seems to be sticking to the sides of the glass.

Aroma is typical of a saison, with notes of fresh hay, pink peppercorns, and some barnyard funk. Whatever the "gentle spices" were, they surely didn't include any that you would typically find in a pumpkin beer. The beer hit the same notes throughout, even as it warmed a bit.

The taste is funky, grassy, lightly vegetal, with only light hints of any pumpkin or spice. It really needs to warm up quite a bit to even taste any pumpkin qualities here. It tastes first and foremost like a saison, and the pumpkin aspect of this beer seems like a light coloring on top of that. It is so subtle, that I am not even sure that I am not just making it up because they say it's there.

Good carbonation, medium body, dry finish. Pretty spot on for the style.

As I said before, this is hardly a pumpkin beer. I am sure the intention was to come nowhere close to a "pumpkin" beer, but to add pumpkins to their saison base and spice it with something that you wouldn't find in any pumpkin beers. They were just too timid with whatever that spicing may have been, because I really couldn't detect much that fell outside of the typical saison style. Good saison, bad pumpkin beer interpretation.

Serving type: on-tap

01-12-2013 17:32:47 | More by MusicaleMike

Lunch

Maryland

4/5  rDev +4.4%

03-20-2013 04:33:24 | More by Lunch

chippo33

Vermont

4.25/5  rDev +11%

03-12-2013 22:06:39 | More by chippo33

Takeanotherswing

New York

3.25/5  rDev -15.1%

03-07-2013 04:49:19 | More by Takeanotherswing

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

3.71/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

First had: on tap at Capone's, Norristown, PA

Served in a Long Trail tulip, a clearish light amber color with a fizzy white head and active carbonation. Aroma was woody, light with spice, apple skins, herbal. Truly autumnal on the palate, but as opposed to a full-blown pumpkin/spice beer, it was much lighter and subtle in body and taste. Essence of pumpkin and apple cider, peppery spice, grass, toasted wheat, herbal and earthy hop notes. Body was on the lighter side of medium. Overall quite good.

Serving type: on-tap

03-06-2013 00:20:14 | More by Rifugium

GeoffreyM

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +4.4%

03-04-2013 19:00:46 | More by GeoffreyM

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

3.3/5  rDev -13.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured out from a bottom of the barrel pitcher... This still looked pretty good but I'm not sure how long it had been sitting. The beer was a hazy yellow color with a decent looking white head on top. The smell was earthy with some bready yeast aromas and spice, There was also a little bit of citrus on the nose too. The taste of the beer is earthy, very mild with a sharp spict note in the far distant finish. The mouthfeel of the beer was a little under carbonated mainly from sitting the pitcher but there was some life left in there and it was drinkable. Overall this was an interesting brew.

Serving type: on-tap

03-04-2013 17:49:45 | More by Knapp85

yourefragile

District of Columbia

4/5  rDev +4.4%

03-04-2013 03:53:52 | More by yourefragile

Blanco

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +4.4%

02-19-2013 03:22:24 | More by Blanco

stmgl01

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +4.4%

02-02-2013 23:20:56 | More by stmgl01

brez8791

Pennsylvania

3/5  rDev -21.7%

01-26-2013 20:25:53 | More by brez8791

Pinknuggets

Vermont

4.05/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

On tap at three penny taproom

A: golden honey color but not translucent looks more like an ipa then a saison but without the head

S: lots of aged hops I can't describe the smell but it smells like a saison for sure

T: malty with a hint of hops tastes Like what I would think a saison would taste like but nothing super special

M: drinkable very oily and thin with a light carbonation that valves the feel nicely again like a saison should be

O: really solid saison definitely not the best one ice had from hfs but will stand up to pretty much any standard saison I thoroughly enjoyed it

Serving type: on-tap

12-16-2012 02:32:15 | More by Pinknuggets

mklisz

New Hampshire

4/5  rDev +4.4%

12-10-2012 16:32:28 | More by mklisz

mdfb79

New York

3.9/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

From 12/06/12 notes. Had this on tap at Pony Bar on the UES. Was labeled under Hill Farmstead and was told it was brewed there; not sure why this is labeled under Grassroots. 8 oz. pour.

a - Pours a somewhat transparent bright golden-orange color with one inch of off white head and moderate carbonation evident.

s - Smells of spice, pumpkin, pepper, yeast, apples, fruity malts. Heavy spice and light pumpkin, with some nice fruit in the end. Pretty good.

t - Tastes of pepper, apples, pumpkins, spices, yeast, wheat, bready malts, earthy notes. Spice is still there but more fruit than the nose; a step up for me.

m - Medium body and moderate to high carbonation. Pretty easy to drink.

o - Overall a nice, easy drinking fall beer. Nice fruit in the taste and the pumpkin is light, would like to have this again on a night fall night. Wouldn't classify as a pumpkin-y beer.

Serving type: on-tap

12-07-2012 17:49:20 | More by mdfb79

JRod1969

New York

4.25/5  rDev +11%

12-07-2012 00:41:03 | More by JRod1969

DrunkinYogi

Connecticut

3.75/5  rDev -2.1%

11-30-2012 02:56:28 | More by DrunkinYogi

jaasen64

Massachusetts

3.78/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

On draft at Cambridge Brewing Company's 2012 Great Pumpkin Festival. We were actually at the brewery earlier in the day and they said this was the beer's unofficial "debut".

Here's the description on the guidebook: Shaun Hill's 1st pumpkin beer, brewed in collaboration with Jackie O's and Grassroots after years of goading from Will. A simple malt bill provides an orange hue. Ben's Pumpkins from Snug Valley Farm provided the requisite squash.

*This was labeled as being from HF, but if they bottle it I assume they'll use the Grassroots label.

Looking forward to trying this one. Reviewed from notes and a 4oz pour (although I think it accidentally was more like a 5-6oz pour). Poured into Fest Pint Glass.

A- Translucent with a nice orange hue that gives it a nice pumpkin appearance. Just under a finger's worth of foamy head that recedes fairly fast and leaves light spotty lacing.

S- Pumpkin, light hops, and saison malts. About average aroma strength, fairly appealing but nothing extraordinary.

T- Again pumpkin, light hops, and typical saison malts. Nothing too complex, but a nice unspiced pumpkin presence.

M- Light, fairly refreshing, easy to drink, decent carbonation.

O- At first I was a little bit underwhelmed by this beer. From two great brewer's I was definitely expecting a little bit more complexity. It was fairly simple as far as pumpkin beers go. The more I drank it the more it actually grew on me and I actually realized I probably preferred that they didn't do anything crazy with it. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin beers that are overly complex, I feel like most of the time they get over spiced. In my opinion it was simple, refreshing, and enjoyable to drink. I'm not sure what their plans are with this, but if they do bottle it I'll probably pick up a bottle or two.

Serving type: on-tap

10-29-2012 03:01:21 | More by jaasen64