Herevana – North End – Secret Garden Herb Saison
I purchased a mix case of North End beers, something from all parts of the spectrum, Sours, Saison, Pales to Stouts. I got this from the lovely people at BeerHug in NZ They have really good service and they’re nice people, making single brewer offerings on a regular basis. I couldn’t go past this one from North End.
North End Brewing Co make the Secret Garden Herb Saison is in the style that is a Saison / Farmhouse – Flavored with an ABV of 7.0% This then is 2.43 standard drinks in NZ.
North End Brewing are based at Waikanae Beach Wellington New Zealand. 🇳🇿
I’m not sure I can top my excitement over the last beer – The Bines that Bind Us – but let’s give it a go.
Once again there is no wriggle room, this is 100% full to the brim, and is potential keyboard/laptop killer.
This is another new aroma, it’s like a mixed herb, not brash herbs, but nonetheless, herby.
This one has a much deeper orange hazy pour with a lovely white and quite firm head atop. Again it is a pretty pretty beer.
There’s some lovely aroma in this, and I’m wildly thinking something with limes, but I don’t know I know enough about citrusy herbs. Perhaps it’s not even citrus. It is of course a secret.
You get a kick out of that aroma though, I mean in “I’m challenged” in a good way and I like it!
This take on a Saison is different, and that earthy note is not as apparent, there’s a lot of carbonation, and that sometimes is a blanket or lid on tasting flavours I’ve found. There’s quite nice sweetness in this, a mystery of floral and pricking tasty bits.
It is very mysterious.
I came up with that this has something malty and a bit like a Rye about it. I like it.
The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 8 on the arbitrary number scale. This is another beer that you enjoy because its an exploration of taste and flavours that challenge you to identify and pin down, this time without much luck, which did not make it at all bad. This is really confident beer work from a brewer.
Music: The Sex Pistols 76-77. I can tell you that at the time this was so far off the scale. Seems like soft rock now.
Herevana beers are those I drink at home, I’m not at some beer festival, like, for instance, Beervana, but am just in my kitchen, usually, dining room table, sometimes, or outside, occasionally, where I can take an average picture and write in real time about the beer that I’ve invested in, both in a monetary and emotional way.
Philip himself.
North End Seasonal Range Secret Garden Herb Saison features botanicals grown by our own gardening team in our kitchen gardens.
Brewers Notes
Saison / Farmhouse – Flavored
The Flavored Saison, or Flavored Farmhouse Ale, is a refreshing, highly-attenuated, moderately-bitter, moderate-strength Belgian ale with a very dry finish with a clear flavoring element. Typically highly carbonated, and using non-barley cereal grains and optional spices for complexity, as complements the expressive yeast character that is fruity, spicy, and not overly phenolic. It features an harmonious marriage of the additive and beer, but still recognizable as a beer. The additive character should be evident but in balance with the beer. (For example: fruits, spices, herbs, vegetables, coffee, honey, chocolate, maple sirup, chilies, nuts, vanilla, liquor – BUT not including Smoked malt, barrel-aging or a Sour element resulting from the brewing process).
A life just as ordinary 