The Lost Abbey Saison Blanc

The Lost Abbey Saison Blanc

Style: Saison

Alcohol Content: 5.5%

From: San Marcos, California, USA

Purchased from: Beer Geek, Prague, Czech Republic

http://lostabbey.com/

Some men dream, whilst others just brew.

A few years ago Vince Marsaglia (co founder of Pizza Port) dreamt of a brewery producing a range of authentic abbey style beers. That dream became a reality when Tomme Arthur was hired to brew a Belgian Dubbel called Overhead Abbey ale.

After many years of small scale brewing at Pizza port, the dynamic duo began formulating a plan to bring abbey style beers to the masses. As luck would have it, Stone Brewing Company announced that it was moving away from its old facility in San Marcos, California to a larger premises. Taking this as a sign from a higher power, the newly formed Port Brewing Company moved into this facility and split production between Port and the Belgium beer specialist Lost Abbey. The brewery finally opened its doors to the public in 2006 and now produce a range of six core beers and a plethora of seasonal specials including the subject of this review; Saison Blanc.

Colour: Pours a bright, straw yellow with a thin white head which lingers for the duration of the beer. As with many Saisons, a heft lump of yeast is present in the bottle. Feeling darling, I added some into my glass. The yeast not only helps to cloud the beer, but in my opinion it helps to lift the flavours of the beer onto a higher plane.

Aroma: What a bobby dazzler of a nose. Big bold notes of yeast and straw are promptly followed by notes of plums, grapes and perhaps a little pineapple. Very fruity and not what I have come to expect from a Saison.

Body: The additional yeast really helps to fill out the body because I fear that without the yeast, this beer would actually taste rather thin and lifeless. The yeast adds a slight creamy sensation that mixes very playfully with the incredibly complex flavour profile.

Taste: As I eluded to above, this beer has a complex flavour profile which I will now attempt to summarise. Rather like a glass of Chardonnay, this beer drinks dry from beginning to the end. Notes of straw, coriander, pepper and sweet raisins shine though before the alcohol rains on their parade. This strong alcohol taste is rather surprising given the low ABV. As the beer warms, hints of fresh lemons appear to add a real zing to the finish which remains warming and dry complimented with a slight hint of hop bitterness. A very well rounded package that needs a little more body thickness in order to be truly exceptional.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/ikley-brewing-siberia-rhubarb-saison.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/anchor-brewing-old-foghorn.html

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Moa Brewery Blanc

Moa Brewery Blanc

Style: Kristallweizen

Alcohol Content: 5%

From: Marlborough, New Zealand

Purchased From: A wine shop in the Brighton (the name escapes me)
http://www.moabeer.com/

When the Moa Brewery was built it was plonked between the vines in the world famous winemaking region of Marlborough, New Zealand, which isn’t surprising considering the founder of Moa, Josh Scott, is a winemaker and according to him, “It takes a lot of beer to make a good wine”. Conveniently, it’s quite a nice place to live and provides the perfect environment for brewing. The brewery opened in 2003 and this year celebrated its tenth anniversary.

The name “Moa” (New Zealand’s giant dinosaur bird) also derives from the region, as in the early days Josh hand delivered brews to archaeologists working a Moa bone dig near the brewery. Even half-cut they found some Moa bones, so archaeology can’t be that hard. In case your interested this is what a Moa actually looks like.
                                      

What a big boy hey? Lets see if there beer can match the bird. For this review we will be looking at the Moa Blanc which i came across in Brighton, tucked away at the back of a wine shop. Thanks to the beautiful Emma for helping pick this one out.

Beautifully simple label

Colour: A beautiful sunshine yellow with a majestic thick white head on the pour. It looks like a very good German Kristallweizen (the filtered alternative to unfiltered Hefeweizen Weiss beer). The head will die down to a low foam after a few sips which is a real shame. I always enjoy a nice lingering head on a Weiss beer.

Aroma: As with most Kristallweizen beers, the filtering has slightly dulled down the aromas of this beer. Taking a deep sniff I can smell faint hints of grass and oranges, lemons and limes. Hop aromas are very minimal from this beer.

Body: Rather light for a wheat beer. The mouth feel is very smooth and not sticky at all. The minimal hopping of this beer helps to create a very crisp finish which is very strange for a Weiss beer. All credit to Moa for trying something a bit different when creating a Weiss beer.

Taste: I took my beer out of the fridge for a 15 minutes before drinking it. On hindsight, I would of kept it out of the fridge for a lot longer before sampling this brew. To be honest, this is not the flavorsome Weiss beer I have ever had. In the mouth you can pick out hints of wheat and very faint hints of bananas. Really trying to pick out flavors I drank very slowly swilling the beer from taste bud to taste bud. Luckily, I could also pick out notes of lemon and limes which is complimented by hints of grass. There is a slight phenolic finish which helps to clean your mouth out after every sip.

Something Similar: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/duvel.html
Something Different: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/flying-dog-doggie-style-pale-ale.html

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery