Hubris Id: Tempus (England: Saison: 5.2% ABV)
Visual: Hazy streaks in the bottom of a gold main body. Large white head.
Nose: Malt chocolate. Lemongrass. Dill pickle. Soft toffee. Pepper. Soft cream and milk. Orange rind.
Body: Soft kiwi and lime. Moderate bitterness. Earthy notes. Salted lime. Coriander. Peppery. Gentle middle. Lemongrass. Salted wheat. Slight chilli seeds. Charring late on.
Finish: Kiwi. Earthy character. Malt chocolate. Lemongrass. Milk chews. Slight chalk. Slightly salty. Orange rind. Charring later on.
Conclusion: This is a pretty unique take on a saison. Ok, that sounds very much like damning with faint praise. Kind of like when someone says the food is おもしろい in Japan. It really sounds like you are just trying to be polite, apparently I come across like I am doing that a lot. Well, let us examine this and see if it is just interesting, or interesting good.
This has an earthy, rustic, peppery saison base. So fairly standard in that way – but it is very unusual in that it is also slightly milky, making a mix of rough and smooth in the base to work from. Then it brings in the odd hop choice – with Sorachi Ace bringing lemongrass, dill pickle and kiwi into saison territory where it is not normally used. That however isn’t the odd part of the flavours though, that is the comparatively normal part. What is really odd is the salty, wheaty character that makes this actually feel like a more robust take on a gose. So, yeah. Nigh unique in my experience that one.
So, is it good different, or bad different? Well, for the first half it actually really works. A mix of unusual textures and unusual flavours gives you a lot to get your teeth into. It feels very grounded, with an earthiness to it that feels closer to earthy British hop character than the natural rustic saison character, but still enjoyable for that.
Late on the rougher notes start to dominate. A more charred character starts rising to overpower the hop character and brings with it a taste like crushed chilli seeds. It could be due to the beer warming I think, rather than just extended exposure to the beer, but any which way it adds a rough edge that does not benefit the beer.
An interesting one to try, and close to being a good one – but that latter half means that it falls short. Ah well.
Background: Second set of tasting notes on a Hubris ID beer – a tiny nano brewery around the Bath area. This is me being ultra hipster and trying beers that really won’t turn up far from where they are made, most likely. This one caught my eye as it is a saison made with good old Sorachi Ace, my beloved, odd as hell, hop. It also uses the jarrylo hop – an experimental hop from the look of it, and not one I know much about. Interesting. This was grabbed from Independent Spirit and drunk with a random bit of music going on in the background.
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