Homebrew Tasting: Brett C Saison

I really wanted to drink some Saison especially with the 20 gals I just brewed, but none of it is ready yet. I started looking through my beers and realized I hadn't tried my Brett C Saison from last year in quite a while. Plus I had never posted any official tasting notes.

If you look back on the Brewing Post, I mentioned, "hydrometer sample was pretty funky already. To be honest it didn't taste very good. It was a big mix of barnyard and a touch of dried fruit. I was expecting the beer to still have a good amount of fruit flavors". I did try a carbonated version shortly after and still wasn't pleased with the beer. I got an over-the-top phenolic character and very little fruit notes. Actually the phenolic was so strong that it created a bitter astringent aftertaste. This taste really doesn't work with the dry, refreshing Saison style. I know that it is not the fault of the wort because the other batches that used the same wort turned out great.



I did not aerate the wort very much when I pitch the Brett. And it was kept in the mid 70s during fermentation. I didn't use a starter, but added 1 fresh vial into 1 gal of wort. If I every brew this style of beer again, I will make a large starter and aerate well.

Below are my homebrew tasting notes about this beer after it has been aging for about a year. As you can see, the beer really hasn't changed much from my initial assessment. I have a few more bottles that I'll taste in at least 6 more months.