Monday 5 August 2013

Beer Tasting: Strawman Saison

I recently tried my first beer from Strawman, a small brewery based in Hackney, just off the northeast corner of London Fields. This beer was the Strawman Saison. First of all, any brewery that launches with a saison as one of their first beers is pretty damn OK in my book (so long as they do it well, of course). Thankfully, Strawman did an exceptional job on their low ABV interpretation of the saison style. At a mere 3.9% ABV, this beer punches well above its weight class. It pours hazy yellow and strongly effervescent with a large, frothy white head; it looks great - just check out the photo to the right, yeah? The aroma holds dry, pale malts, dry dough, some spicy yeast and hints of banana. Lightly sweet, the flavor brings further dry but somewhat doughy pale malts, touches of orange merengue and mellow bitter straw. It's light bodied with lively, massaging carbonation. The finish is fairly dry with some sweet, dry and mildly doughy pale malts, the faintest hints of tangy lemon and low bitterness. Very clean, very refreshing. Overall it is quite a solid saison. And to do it all while keeping the ABV at 3.9% is indeed impressive. I am excited by this new brewery. (Score: 4.1/5.0)

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