Pitt Street Brewing Co. “Party Up!”

Style: Saison
ABV: 7%

Happy Friday everyone! Hopefully your weekend is filled with good brews and good weather. This week, for our New Release post, we’re back at Pitt Street Brewing here in Greenville. They recently tapped a new saison, which is always a fun style of beer due to the complexity that can come with it. Saisons or farmhouse ales often come with a unique profile, stemming from brewers using different malts, spices, and other ingredients all the time. It’s a great style when done right, and we think Pitt Street has a good one on tap.

Joe’s Take

Its saison season, well almost, but who doesn’t love alliteration? Wordplay aside, saison literally translates from french to “season” and was brewed for the thirsty farmhands to guzzle down in the summer. I’m not a farmhand but as the weather gets warmer I’ll gladly reach for a saison. 

This saison, brewed by good old Pitt Street Brewing Company, is named “Party Up!” and poured a nice caramel/copper color. The brew was mostly clear with a slight touch of haze that made it glow in the fading sunlight. There was a thin white head that very quickly dissipated and left little trace behind. Overall, it was a good looking brew. 

The aroma was relatively easy to detect, especially once the beer was sipped down to a level below the first curve of that notorious Pitt Street muffin top glass. It gave off scents of sweet biscuit, caramel, dark fruit, and yeasty esters. The smell let you know this beer was all malt and yeast which is a nice change of pace in a beer world dominated by hop heads. 

Mouthfeel was light and refreshing. It had a thin body and medium to high levels of carbonation. Fit for a fluid forgone farmer, the featherweight but flavorful beer would make for a refreshing summer day thirst quencher. 

The flavor of “Party Up!” was difficult for me to pin down. There were the familiar notes of biscuit, dark fruit, caramel, and fruity esters. However, the beer finished with a slight metallic astringency that faded into a lingering bitterness on the tongue. This flavor was not overwhelming but added a complexity to the beer that I wasn’t expecting.

As I have previously alluded with my awful application of alliteration, this beer was refreshing and drinkable. I could definitely see someone simultaneously sip several of the subject saisons slowly while suffering the severe scorching sun… The end.

Nick’s Take

My apologies in advance for this, but this saison “gon’ make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here.” While I can’t produce the same energy as the late DMX, this saison named “Party Up!” certainly got me in a good mood when Joe and I got to Pitt Street for a visit. Right out of the gate, I was excited by the clean-looking appearance of this beer. It had a very nice amber color that had almost no haze or clouding. I didn’t see much head on the beer when it was poured and there certainly was little foam by the time we got to our table. Presentation-wise, this saison looks delicious and I was eager to take my first smells.

Initially, I was getting some rich, sweet aromas that I couldn’t place. I was thinking it was kind of fudgey…but then I was thinking more along the lines of molasses. This made sense when the bready malt smells came into play, as well as some spice on the nose. Joe made some similar comments and perhaps said it best (“fruit bread”). I wasn’t sure I detected any hop characteristics but they could’ve contributed to the overall profile for sure. I enjoyed the complexity a lot, and the fact that it made me work hard to figure out all the nuanced aromas.

My first sips of “Party Up!” produced a great amount of carbonation that finished a little more softly. I enjoyed the brightness of this more malty beer. It was light to medium-bodied and had a clean finish, though perhaps just a bit of drying (not something that bothers me in the slightest).

In terms of flavor, there were matches to the aromas I smelled but also some small differences. The bready malt flavors were there, as was the touch of dry, dark fruit (not sure if cherry is accurate but it kept coming to mind). The spice flavor was also a great addition, but I wasn’t tasting anything that resembled the molasses I thought I picked up earlier when smelling. Still, a very tasty and intriguing saison that represents the style well.

It’s hard to grade drinkability for saisons or farmhouse ales, as they vary greatly. However, I enjoyed all aspects of this beer. It’s got an interesting flavor profile (in a good way – keeps you guessing and evolves as it warms a bit), great mouthfeel conducive to enjoyable drinking, and it looks great if we’re judging a beer by its cover.