Saison de Pipaix
Brasserie à Vapeur in Leuze-Pipaix, Hainaut, Belgium 🇧🇪
Farmhouse - Saison Regular|
Score
6.67
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A traditional Wallonian saison beer, born with the brewery in 1785. Dry, normally hopped, slightly acidic, very spicy (black pepper, ginger, sweet orange peel, curaçao, star anise...)
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8.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
The beer is a warm, amber-hued shade of brown. It’s completely opaque. There’s a good amount of sediment on the bottom of the bottle, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find some floaties. The head is ecru in color and somewhat fizzy. It’s not an altogether effervescent head that fades away immediately, but the mound of bubbles isn’t long for this world. The aroma is lovely. There’s a subtle combination of spices. I’m getting ginger, fennel, licorice, orange and maybe lime. There’s a peppery note that could be hops or just other spice. Nothing really stands out above the rest of the mix or drowns out the other flavors in the beer. The malt is lightly toasty and is accented by wood and earth. There’s peaches, apricots, pears and grapes rattling around. It seems to have a mild lactic note, just an undertone of yogurt, and some nice mineral character. The beer’s taste is quite similar. It starts with some sweet stone fruit and earth. Then, the spices kick in. Again, it’s hard to pick out any one dominating flavor, but ginger and orange start things off with anise and pepper stronger in the finish. Moderately lactic tart. Moderate toasty malt sweetness. There’s some funk, but it probably needs more time to develop fully. This bottle just came into a local store, so I assume it’s relatively fresh for this beer. At any rate, besides the aforementioned spice, the finish also has more of that mineral character and a woody note that dries things out. A touch of bitterness at the end. Mouthfeel starts out a bit effervescent but the carbonation drops pretty quickly, and the beer ends up pretty creamy. Full compared to some saisons. The finish is fairly dry, though. That said, this is a beer that I could enjoy flat. This is a fantastic beer. It has some of the best spicing that I’ve come across in beer. It’s very much on the Fantome side of the saison world, and I can’t imagine finding another beer that tastes terribly similar. I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 May 2013
at 21:44
7.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Clear orange colour, white head. Bit of a gusher. Aroma of cork, yeast, fruits, malts and spices. Light sour flavour, very fresh. Citrus, citrus peel, ginger, light pepper. Hefty carbonation, like champagne. Finish citrus and pepper.
Lovely beer. Not very typical for a saison I’d say, in fact reminding me more of sekt than beer.
(From 75cL bottle shared with a few friends)
Lovely beer. Not very typical for a saison I’d say, in fact reminding me more of sekt than beer.
(From 75cL bottle shared with a few friends)
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Apr 2013
at 18:17
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Nice saison. Pours golden with foamy head, especially with my crappy pour. Some floral hops and barnyard aromas. A little banana and clove sweetness as well. Nice balance, nice all-around beer. I got a sense of the ginger and anise as well. Bottle at barvolo.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Mar 2013
at 10:51
7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Tap at Birreria Paradiso Georgetown. Hazy, murky orange-brown. Delicate, very soft on the palate. Mellow and sugary melon sweet at times. This is certainly not a yeast bomb, more along the lines of a classic subtle lemon-lime session saison. Not a whole lot of character, very old school. Enchantingly clean, but does fall short in effervescence on tap...Its been a long time since Ive had the bottle.. Really nice, simple, sublime.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Feb 2013
at 20:19
6.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle at home (Noel Cuvelier) 21/10/12. Bottle was filled right to the brim (33cl) ! Clear golden with a thin off white head that soon dissipates to the edges and forms a small pond. Nose comprises earthy fruits, liqourice, some herbal tones and mint. Tastes of apples, traces of orange, herbal qualities, mint again, light vegetal notes, earthy and farmy. Medium bodied with soft slightly spritzy carbonation leading to a dry finish. Drinkable but was hoping for a little more from this one.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Oct 2012
at 12:09
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bar Great Harry, NY tap ($8): Pours an orange body with a small head. Aroma is vinegar and sour ale type smell. Taste is slightly sour, moderately fruity, and a tad dry. Carbonation was pretty low. Sourness is mostly in the aftertaste. The aroma is better than the taste. I think they didn’t really go far enough in the flavor, for it should have had either more saison funk or sour funk.
Tried
from Draft
on 16 Sep 2012
at 11:12
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
330 ml bottle bought @ Beer Planet. Pours hazy reddish golden with a rather small frothy white head that leaves lots of trace on the glass while dissipating. Smell is tiny sweet and tiny sour with crackers, soup stock, phenols, plums, green grapes, sheet metal, ginger, white pepper, allspice, dried juniper berries, bay leaves and dry soil. Taste is sour, metallic and very phenolic with crackers, white pepper, ginger, grape zest, allspice, sheet metal, bay leaves, dry soil, wood, and lemon juice. Mouthfeel is crisp, dry, tiny tart and light bodied. Finish is slightly dry and slightly tart with crackers, white pepper, ginger, dry soil, lemon juice, bay leaves and orange peal.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Sep 2012
at 16:01
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Draft @ Novare Res Bier Café. Bright orange/amber hazy pour with bubbly white head. Nice presentation in the snifter. The nose smells like a Lambic Gueuze. Farmhouse funk, sour peaches and yeast. Smells much more sour and funky then the flavors I tasted. Lightly sweet with tart fruits and sour up front with a transition into a lightly funky middle. Notes of sour and tart fruits with honey and yeast. The finish is extremely dry. This is a nice beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 02 Sep 2012
at 10:14