Urthel Saisonnière

The first beer in yesterday’s tasting evening of blonde ales was, like the other five, unknown to me before. Urthel Saisonnière was a good find.

It’s very hoppy and bitter, with a slight boiled sweet background. The hop lingers. For quite a long time... Toby wrote down the same, “nice!”, but Fiona thought it was, “a bit thick and syrupy”. I also found a bit of woodiness in it, like sucking on young birch twigs. It has almost a tannic tone, it’s so bitter, but Urthel Saisonnière is, taken altogether, a very tasty beer.

Andrew G, who typed up his own notes, wrote:

A nice, clean, fresh quality to this. Quite light and lingers mid-palette. There’s a bitterness from the outset that gets stronger towards the end, when the freshness, the lightness has passed. Andrew S got a wood/birch/leaf note to it, and, yes, that’s probably right; I’d say it’s less about wood than sucking the type of leaf (forgotten the name) that might be laid on an English roast. A very nice summer beer, one to return to quite often. But not spectacular.

Toby, on the other hand, drew a self-portrait.

So, ratings varied from good to quite good, but all-in-all, a worthwhile beer we’d all try again.