BeerBorg

A while back, I mentioned that a Naked Cat showed up at my brewhouse bearing gifts...

Among these was this Zoo House Saison.

Jeff, I am sorry to be posting this so late, but I drank your Zoo House Saison and did not yet give you feedback, (but I did write it down) so here goes...

First of all, wow... I loved it! I scored it via BJCP scoring standards to see how good it really was and gave you the following:
(not sure how it did in competition, but based on my sample, it should have done very well!)

Bottle Inspection: Proper Fill, Clean look, Good Hiss upon opening.

Aroma: 9/12
Clean, pils-like, slight spice from yeast, not much discernable hop aroma but that's ok for style. Light pear notes.

Appearance: 3/3
Light gold, yellow-gold in color with an appreciable white head. Some effervescence. Clear with slight haze. Nice! Head sticks around well!

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Light, bubbly effervescent, champaign-like but not as dry or thin. Finishes with a nice spicy bitterness but very smooth up front!

Flavor: 17/20
Fresh! Slight fruit (lemon, pear, Mmmm). Very smooth, rounded flavor in initial sip followed by a slight tart, dry note while swallowing. Getting spice and hop at the end. It's candy-like for me, not sweet, just right... Like crack!

Overall: 9/10
i don't know how to score this category as I am biased in favor of the style and this is a very good example overall. Would like more farmhouse character (no, not horse blanket, but that could work too!) but otherwise a great beer. I would have had several in a heartbeat!

TOTAL SCORE: 42/50

Thanks again Jeff!

Uhm, wow I had completely forgotten the you were BJCP when I sent those beers to you and Dave. They were sent as a Thank You for all the help with the recipe. So this is just as much your beer also, I was just the brewer.
Your judging skills and palette are well honed. I was scored 42 and 45 at a local competition and 38 and 39 at the nationals. Your descriptions pretty well follow their comments too.

Again, Thank You for taking the time to do this. It means a lot and I am humbled.

Inkleg wrote:Uhm, wow I had completely forgotten the you were BJCP when I sent those beers to you and Dave. They were sent as a Thank You for all the help with the recipe. So this is just as much your beer also, I was just the brewer.
Your judging skills and palette are well honed. I was scored 42 and 45 at a local competition and 38 and 39 at the nationals. Your descriptions pretty well follow their comments too.

Again, Thank You for taking the time to do this. It means a lot and I am humbled.

I'm not BJCP, just a bit honed I think... (read: pencil-head)

Great beer though, thanks for the opportunity to (steal) um... Try it!

Glad to hear I scored it well though... It's good practice for self-scoring mine before sending them in for competitions.

I also was lucky to receive one of the ZHS and though I'm not a huge saison fan, it was extremely enjoyable. In fact, as it was going down, it told me I should make one soon. I think I should listen.

I was very happy with the bottle I got too. I would have ranked it in the 40s too if I was trying to score it, but I was too busy drinking it. I think I PM'd my thoughts to Inkleg. But I am biased towards the style and not a BJCP judge either.

I still have a Biere de Garde and the Ovila Quad that came in the naked cat box hidden in a drawer next to me.

I open in once in a while and see the naked cats staring back at me.

Eventually I will drink them... But I'm not in a rush, they will last... Probably will finally toss them in the fridge around late October. Will be a nice time for those beers when the chill returns.

Warning! Warning! Danger Will Robinson! Watch out for the BdG it has picked up something and may still be carbing in the bottle. Please put it in the fridge and be gentle when pouring.

I have a ZHS chilling from last week that I plan to crack this weekend. Although after reading BPG's review you can expect one of two things in mine:
1) It was good/bad, OR
2) A lusty-romantic description that provides absolutely no detail but makes you think it's a good review because the write up was interesting

That's a hard act to follow - and a very cool review to read!

I had one of these the other day too. Wow, Jeff, your beers are really making their rounds!!!

It was a good beer for sure. And BPG's write up is great.

BPG nailed the desciption. It was a beautiful light color, effervescent and crisp with a definite saison tartness to it.

It's not my favorite style of beer but it's nice to branch out to something new sometimes.

Thanks Jeff.