Out of the Bottle: Dark Session Saison

My Dark Session Saison is ready. It's closely related to my Session Saison from a few weeks back, so I plan on doing a bit of compare and contrast this time around. It is also one of the five beers I brewed for my friend's birthday, so I have some pretty decent feedback too.

Let's start with the pour.

The beer has a nice pale chocolate hue and a dense cap. Head retention is good and a nice amount of lace is left behind.

Compared to its Session Saison brother, this beer adds a distinct baker's chocolate bite on top of that beer's biscuits and bitterness. However, the Cara Munich malts didn't cut through with sweetness as much as I thought they would. A little bonus time in the bottle allowed the yeast to do its thing. It adds some sourdough and light earthy funk aromas that balance, rather than overpower.

Like the lighter Saison, this one has a body that's more dense than an ABV of less than 5.0% would normally produce.

As far as tasting notes go, the beer got a favorable comparison to Widmer's W'12 Dark Saison. My beer got an extra nod for having more yeast character than the Widmer beer. The best compliment was that my friend Aaron liked it so much he horded as many of the leftovers from the party as possible.

Overall, I'd say that this one is a keeper.

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