Prairie ‘Merica Saison

Appearance

Pours a hazey honey/wheat color with a foamy snow white head.  The head has nice retention and stuck to the glass for the remainder of the drink.

Smell

Great smell that got me excited. Complex and malty with some of the traditional saison spices. Fairly funky with banana and brett.  Smells like a deep pilsner at times and at time very urine-y. I couldn’t keep my nose out of this glass!  Definitely floral with some grainy aspects.  Get in my belly!

Taste

Hmmm. Taste is pretty complex for this style with funkiness and a sour Saison type property to it.  Acidic wheat tasting with a banana peel aftertaste (not the banana, but the dry and bitter peel.) This is a single hop and single malt beer and the hop flavor is much more prevalent than in other farmhouse ales.   Definitely yeasty from the Brett. Mouthfeel was nice and light and well carbonated for the style.  Definitely not a traditional Saison.

Info

Technically a Saison, this is brewed with a single malt and single (Nelson citrus) hop.

Brewed by the folks at Prairie Brewing in Oklahoma. I reviewed another one of the brews here.

7.5% ABV

$8 for a 500mL bottle.

Overall

Something I rarely comment on, but that deserves recognition, is these guys do some great bottle art. Gorgeous work!  Besides that, this is a wonderful and exciting smelling beer that has a good flavor. Wasn’t blown away, but in no way this a bad beer. I’d say it’s much more interesting than good. I’d love to drink it again as the smells coming off this were really superb.

If you’re someone who loves the spiced banana and clovey aspects of a traditional Saison, you’ll likely be disappointed at how far this sways from the norm.

That said, I’d drive a good hour to find this stuff on tap to give it another go.