Stillwater Artisanal ‘Debutante’

Rating:

imageThis is another crack at this american brewery who only brew saisons. The last one we had was bloody average so we hope this is better. We do know it’s a Biere de Garde. This one in particular has no story or info for us but we do know that it is brewed with honeysuckle, hyssop and heather?? Hmmm. We head online to ratebeer.com and we find out that it’s brewed with rye and spelt. Poured into a tulip we see an nice copper, dark golden colour, with virtually no head at all that lasts. There is some carbonation here. Again we get a sniff of mild Belgian yeasts used, almost champagne or cider like. First sip elicits a far stronger alcohol hit and more sweetness on the palate. Doughy malts, and some floral fruity esters, as well as a touch of spice from the rye presist on the palate. Quite balanced and smooth really given the 6.4% alc vol. As we drink this beer it loses all carbonation and it’s like its flat. Has an oily or liquor like appearance to it. By the end, we have actually fallen for this brew. We like the herbal or floral aromas, mixed with the yeasty or dough like malts. It’s damn smooth as it combines and slides down the gullet. We can’t say we have eaten heather, hyssop or honeysuckle but it sounds great. Overall, quite quaffable indeed.