Back from the depths of non-blogdom!

I've been busy traveling, and also had other things that had to get done, and partially, kind of forgot about the blog. Maybe I'll post more regularly, or maybe not. Anyway, today's post is, appropriately, about homebrew, namely my most recent brew, S3: Super Summer Saison.

I brewed it in mid to late July, tasted the first bottle today, and overall, I'm tentatively pleased with it. It came out reasonably true to BJCP style for Saison, see:

http://www.bjcp.org/2004_BJCP_Guidelines.pdf
16C: Saison

It came out to roughly 8.7%, a tiny bit high for style, but I think my gravity calculations might need adjusting, and it might actually be between 8%-8.5%. I used Wyeast 3725 (Biere de Garde), and adjuncts included a pound of dark belgian candi sugar, and a pound of raw turbinado sugar.

My tasting notes:

8/8/06, first taste, 12 oz bottle, cold (from friedge overnight). Opens with moderate carbonation hiss.

APPEARANCE: pours hazy medium orange with small head, dissipates fairly quickly. small layer of yeast sediment in bottom of bottle.

AROMA: tangy, slightly wild, hints of phenolics

TASTE: tangy, fruity, finishes slightly sweet and fruity, then in the aftertaste, notes of bread/biscuit? (not in a papery way, though)

MOUTH: tingly carbonation, finishes somewhat viscous

OVERALL: pretty decent for a farmhouse style saison, especially when I've never brewed one before (or really, anything like it.) definitely drinkable, though far from perfect.

secondary taste as it warms: good, more tangy and wild up front, more fruity esters and phenolics in back.

thoughts... next time I'd probably use a less powerful and wild yeast (it fermented from 1.070 to 1.003 in 68 hours!), and try to find ways to reduce the phenolic taste, since though it's appropriate for the style, isn't my favorite flavor.