Out of the Bottle: Experimental Saison

What I believe to be the first non-alcoholic Saison to find its way to the internet is finally ready. This beer was a total experiment on my part, so I had no idea if it would be any good.

You know what? It is good.

Let up start from the top. The beer is rather cloudy coming out of the bottle. I was warned that buckwheat makes for a very turbid beer, and that's definitely the case. A dense white cap takes an aggressive pour to form, but sticks around afterward and leaves bits of lace behind.

Now it's onto the stuff we really care about.

Heating the beer to eliminate the alcohol also killed the yeast. Bottle conditioning the beer with fresh yeast brought the yeast esters right back. There's a definite rustic funk here that Saison yeasts tend to produce. Behind that funk is a nice dose of floral and citrus hop aroma, in addition to some very complex grainy notes.

I've eaten plenty of buckwheat over the years, and know its flavor well. It really adds a lot to the initial flavor profile. Rye provides light caraway spice, while the spelt and wheat bring some dryness. Lo and behold, there's hop flavor riding along with the beer's mild bitterness. It's very citrus leaning in flavor. The yeast adds some lemon sourdough to the mix. Buckwheat and sourdough are most prevalent in the finish.

The beer's body is appropriately light, but could stand a little more fizz. It looks like I'll be using more priming sugar next time.

Overall, I'm very, very pleased. I had no idea if my plan to bring hop and yeast character into a N/A beer would work. As it turns out, it worked quite nicely. It think my next experiment should push the hop envelope and be an IPA.

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