Stillwater Artisanal Brewery: A Saison Darkly

Let's start off with an admission that I do not know what schisandra berries are, but the label says A Saison Darkly has some in it. I checked out some available information about Brian Stillwater, a DJ turned brewer, who believes that terms like "saison" are philosophical labels and not stylistic, so I immediately abandoned any preconceptions I had about the name of the beer. At first sip I thought it was the closest to a Belgian Quad, but lighter, may a Trippel with darker coloring, which by the way is a mahogany-ruby, with a scant head. There's also some interesting carbonation. As the glass sets on my desk, I can see a narrow fountain of bubbles coming up in the exact center, nowhere else. There's a melange of dark fruits plus some apricot, a teeny, tiny bit of cinnamon and brown sugar. The 8% ABV imparts very little heat and there's almost some whiskey notes, although it doesn't claim to be barrel-aged. Overall a pretty decent nightcap.