Tasting notes at the Micro Pig Brewery and it isn't good news. Remember the rosehip saison we bottled a few weeks ago? We'll let me tell you that the combination in this beer has not worked out. Legolas (the two legged piglet) has understood some fundamental flaws in the making of this beer that I think would would be good to share. The first is from the phenolic odor and flavour caused by a high temperature fermentation, which would normally be perfect for a Belgian saison yeast (temps can range up to 90F) but we blended the Belle Saison at pitch (temps only as high as 74F). Fermenting at close to 84F, the Belgian yeast would have been chugging away nicely but the Belle would have been blasting it's way through the sugars generating that nasty phenolic off-flavour. To combat this, it would have been better to have completed primary with the Belgian and then finished off with a pitch of the Belle Saison yeast at a lower temperature. You live and learn. I wouldn't abandon the rosehip idea completely because there is depth to this beer but I would use less than an ounce in a 5 gallon batch next time. It had a lingering bitterness to it that can be just a little like you grandmothers bathroom. A great experiment and learning experience but this beer is headed for the drain... A sad Legolas will keep one bottle to see how it ages, in hope rather than anything else.
