Saison uncapped.

Well, probably like most homebrewers, I get impatient.  It's only been a week since I bottled my Saison, but heck, it's just one bottle.  I threw it in the fridge for a few hours and took off on a bike ride with no particular destination, just east.  Headed for Sunrise Mountain and snaked my way through railyards, industrial parks, petrol dumps. around Nellis AFB and came to realize that the road that the map showed going toward the mountain was inside the base.  Headed up to LV Speedway, checked the map and couldn't see any reason why I'd want to go further north, except to see more flat, trash filled desert.  So turned around and took a different way home on larger streets.  Pretty uneventful, although Nellis has some pretty nice buildings on it, including the Federal hospital that's across the street.  About 16 miles round trip, mostly flattish.

Went home and cracked open that Farmers' Ale. Nice pffft when I lifted the cap.  It's only been a week sitting on the floor at 80-85 degrees, which should be perfect for that Belgian Saison Ale yeast.  When I poured it the resulting head was beyond expectation for just a week.

 

 

Love that color...about an SRM 14.  The head was as thick as any I've seen and really stuck to the glass in thick strips.  Very dense.  Mouthfeel was good and moderate.  Definitely some peppery aftertaste from the peppercorns and the yeast itself.  Not much malty flavor coming through, rather a bit bitter from the dry hopping of the Goldings.  Last time I dry hopped I used Cascade which has much less alpha acids than Goldings.  Be interesting to see how the taste develops overall during the next few weeks.  Next time I might eliminate the dry hopping and spices just to see how the base brew comes out.  Still a pretty looking brew.