Blended saison yeasts - now have a slightly funky taste

I brewed a saison a couple weeks ago and decided to mix yeasts. I used one vial of white labs saison II and a vial of the white labs saison blend. It fermented hot and ate like a champ - dried out all the way down to about 1.004 or so. However, I tasted a sample out of the hydrometer and it tasted pretty funky. It tasted really hot, and sort of astringent like. Hard to explain, but somewhat off.

Could this be because I mixed these two yeasts? I know you can't tell a beer's real character by tasting a hot (80F), flat sample, but it just tasted different.

I should also add that it started a bit higher in OG than I intended (1.079), which would put the abv close to 9% or so. Maybe it's just very strong? Thoughts?

I would guess it's just green and hot. Give it another 2-3 weeks on the yeast and see how it is then.

What temperature did you start fermentation? If you started high, then that could be a reason. I've heard starting at 68 and ramping up to the 80's over the course of several days is the way to go to avoid hot alcohol flavors. At 9%, it's a very strong Saison, so you'll have some hotness regardless.

It started at about 73F or so, not much I could have done since my basement was really hot. I ramped it up to the high 80's over the course of the first week though.

Yea I just had this happen to a black saison. I didn't blend the yeast, but it took about 2 extra weeks of conditioning, and it smoothed right out. Seems to be common in all the strong belgians I brew, they just take longer. Its certainly worth the wait though