Sante Adairius Farmhouse Noir

Take a peek out of the venetian blinds, grab yourself a trench coat and a fedora, cuz it looks like a femme fatale’s on her way to your office with tales of a dead body in a farmhouse where they just happen to make beer. Alright, so “noir” is just French for “black” and this is a dark saison, but come on, noir movies are fun. And hey, isn’t that a maltese falcon on the label? Probably not, but give me this. It turns out that this beer, a funky saison made with dark malts and oats and fermented in oak, is actually a component in the blended Love’s Armour, which just happens to be my first Sante Adairius beer ever, so let’s dig into this mystery.

Sante Adairius Farmhouse Noir – Pours a dark brown color with a finger of light tan head, almost like a porter or stout. Does not smell like a porter or stout though, lots of funk, tart fruit, maybe a little chocolate. Taste even incorporates faint hints of spice up front until that funky earth and tart, chocolate covered fruit kicks in, lemons, cherries, sour finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, medium bodied, moderate to high sourness that still goes down easy. Overall, as dark saisons go, this is a pretty fabulous example and I might be inclined to like the style more if they made them like this. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7.7% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a flute glass on 6/4/16. Batch 3 (I think?)

Sante Adairius remains on the list of top brewers of farmhouse glory in the country, so I’m sure this won’t be the last we hear from them on this blog. Alas, current reserves are dry, so it may be a while…