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Tasting notes

Tasting note: the 2024 Saffron Beer

Pours amber, drinks dry. Toasted-pistachio finish, light spice on the second sip. The brewer’s notes after the third tank.

Tasting note: the 2024 Saffron Beer — cover

The 2024 Saffron Beer is brewed in a five-hectolitre batch with Pilsner malt, a touch of Munich for depth, Saaz hops at a single late addition, and saffron at the whirlpool — never in the boil, which is where flavour goes to die.

Pours amber, drinks dry. The first sip is bitter without being aggressive; the saffron arrives on the swallow rather than the front of the tongue. There is a toasted-pistachio finish that wasn’t in the 2023 batch and we are still trying to work out where it came from. Probably the slightly warmer fermentation.

Pairings: pistachio-crusted lamb, a sharp goat-cheese on rye, anything mezze. We poured it alongside the Saffron Gin at a Rotterdam tasting last October and the beer won the room — which the brewer found vindicating and the distiller found mildly insulting.

Drink within twelve months. The saffron is bright when fresh and dulls into hay after a year in bottle. We label-print the bottling date for that reason.

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