French Saison - Tasting

It has been almost two months since I brewed my first (and, so far, only) Saison.  Common wisdom says that Saisons should be fermented warm.  I brewed this beer in the low 60s and it turned out to have a very nice level of spicy yeast character that characterizes the style.  The yeast also managed to get the beer down to 1.000 so it seems that it was perfectly happy with the low temps.

I also chose to shoot for a modest OG to try to make an easy drinking beer.  I actually undershot my OG by quite a bit and ended up with an even more modest than intended beer at 1.038 OG.  This was a happy accident as the beer at 5% ABV is refreshing and flavorful but still very low impact which I have appreciated the next morning after drinking a couple of these.

This is a pretty rich style of beer so I'm going to have to try another Saison before too long.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• The beer has a pretty strong spice aroma - maybe clove-like would be a good descriptor.  It also has a somewhat indistinct fruity smell (maybe citrus) - I wonder if this may be the Sorachi Ace finishing hops.  Overall it's a light but pleasant aroma.  I wouldn't characterize it as a very aromatic beer.
• Appearance:
• It's a golden color.  It cleared up very nicely.  Pours with a pretty good head that quickly dissipates.  There is a bit of lacing left on the glass.
• Flavor:
• Up front the flavor is spicy and slightly fruity like the aroma.  These are somewhat subtle flavors - it doesn't kick you in the head with yeast character.  The hops don't contribute anything that jumps out at me in the flavoring (must just be well blended in with the yeast flavor) but there is a pretty firm bitterness on the finish.  There is also some breadlines and alcohol to the finish along with the spicy fruitiness.  I think it's a pretty good balance but might lean a bit too hard on the hop bitterness (although saisons are often hoppy so this isn't necessarily a flaw).
• Mouth-feel:
• Very dry which makes for a really easy drinking beer.  It's light bodied but it has enough carbonation to avoid feeling thin and insubstantial.
• Overall:
• I like drinking the beer.  If I had fermented warmer I probably would have gotten stronger yeast character out of the beer which would have changed the balance a bit and maybe competed with the lingering bitterness in the aftertaste.  As it is, with such a light beer, I'm not sure having more spicy/fruitiness would necessarily have been an improvement though.  If I were to brew this again, at this gravity, I might go with a slightly lower alpha acid hop for milder bittering.  It could be I'm just not liking the bittering character of the Sorachi Ace hops - will have to try those in another beer sometime to be sure.