22 oz bottle from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. The usual presentation for the Side Project Series.
Pour is a hazy, orange/yellow that seems closer to a Wit rather than a Saison.
Nose has light clove and bananas, again, replicating a Wit rather than the Saison style.
Tastes are a sweet and sour combo with some lemon notes and some “bitterish” orange peel. As others have noted, there is a bitterness about the beer that one might associate with the rye. It has a dry, slightly hoppy note that I would not normal associate with the style, and it’s almost as if the beer has half a toe in the Belgian IPA style. There’s a very light touch of funkiness there too but it’s very light for the style, and even a mild alcohol burn in the chest afterwards.
I’d call this pretty complex, and I would not call it necessarily a typical Saison, in fact for me it’s closer to a cross between a Wit and a Belgian IPA. Very interesting. Complicated beer that walks a fine line between bad and good. Tricky beer this one, and by far the most interesting and complicated in the SP series so far.
Not my favorite beer, but definitely a brew that is worth taking a long hard look at. Even though I’m not in love with it, I would certainly recommend trying it.