Well, I will say that there is a lot going on in this one. 

Spice on the nose. Poured with the persistent head I expect from 3711. That strain produces a lot of glycerol, so it really helps with head retention and that silky mouthfeel in a dry beer, which this had.

For me, the phenolic/medicinal notes in the flavour were just too strong. I really like the restrained dark malts, nothing too roasty to clash with the yeast character, but hot fermentation character mostly overpowered this subtlety, and it was hard to pick up any contribution from the rye.

Also, I'd say that the IBUs are a bit too high. It's a dry beer, so the perceived bitterness is more than in something that finishes higher. I'm also not sure that the dry hops really shone through with so much else happening in the flavour.

I think this recipe has the potential to make a great beer, but in doing that you should think about knocking the IBUs down around 20, pitching cool, say 16C, then keeping it under 18C for the first couple of days. 3711 will always finish dry, as you say, it's a monster.

Thanks for the interesting beer, and make sure you hang onto a few. 3711 beers can age really well (1 year+), and some of the harsher flavours may well age out.  

Robs belgian amber

Appearance: Dark Brown with slight amber coming through when held to light. Clear. Retains head well.

Aroma: Raw bread dough, slight acetaldehyde. strong phenolic/medicinal character. You can tell it's a saison yeast! Funky, not necessarily in a good way.

Taste: Slight acetaldehyde in the mouth, big malts. Raisins. Fermented too hot, the yeast phenolics dominate. But you can't taste the booze so much, would have said this was a 5-6 percenter!

Mouthfeel: Well balanced, no diaceytl. Medium malt backbone, could use more malt, less bitterness.

Finish: Kinda harsh, acetaldehyde there, followed by a smoothness. Maybe too much on the 60 min hop addition?

Overall: I did this side by side with Douglas', so maybe that was a bit unfair. This has the funky saison character, but I think it might be too funky. Seemed a weird match to me with the darkness. That said, it was drinkable, with no major flaws apart from the overly funkiness, reduce ferm temps and ou should have it nailed. Then again, a lot of the advice on Saisons say to ferment high around 30C. 

Hello,

I had this last night, here are my notes.

First up, I think you should really call this a Brown Saison rather than a Belgian. The yeast funk etc was really prevalent.

Poured a nice head which had a slight biscuity coloured tinge. The head was quite large, and settled down to a couple of mil with good retention which was pleasing.

I poured this into a jug and then poured my first glass.

First sniff gets noble hop aroma, spices and the saison yeast funk I have come to know over the last year.

First taste: The body was good, spicy, saison taste and a long bittering. The malts certainly started show casing themselves too when it warmed up which was great.

Now this is the strange part. The first glass was a nice smooth drink with no real off flavour. However, the second glass I starting getting the taste Paul was talking about in the top of the mouth. Of what I can determine I wonder if it was tannin's? I also started getting the hotness from the alcohol. Maybe when the beer is warmer those come through more. 

So that was a bit odd!

Overall I liked it. Like I said at the start, I really see this as a Saison rather than a Belgian. I think if you can nail those couple of off flavours you'll be onto a winner.

cheers