6.3

Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Lichtbruin troebel bier zonder schuim. Smaak is bitterzoet en licht fruitig met iets van mandarijn, wat peer en hop. Heeft een heel lange alcoholische afdronk.

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Bottle from Hopduvel.
A: hazy golden, small, off-white head.
A: coriander, ripe peach & pineapple, dough, clove, soap, lemongrass.
T: sweet peach & pear; sourish citrus & wheat; spices, soap.
F: floral hops, bit earthy, phenolic, ripe yellow fruits, warming jenever-like alcohol.
P: medium body, slick texture, fizzy carbonation.
Unconvincing.

6.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Enormous yellowish head, stable, looking for all the world as whipped eggwhite; veiled orange beer, lively carbonated; rings of lace. Leafy, herbal, white candi sugar, perfumey. Bit aggressive nose. Sweet-ish. Furious carbonation masks flavours but for sweetness; herbal and spicy. White candi sugar as good as certain. Rather burning MF. Bit empty, high attenuation despite still certain sweetness. As if in full fermentation yet. As a tripel, more or less succeeded. What it has to do with saison, only Americans or Scandinavians might explain.

7.4

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

Pours fairly clear, darker blonde. Medium large white head fades relatively fast. Scent is very balanced, but clear on the saison phenols. malty, slight green hop character. Taste is very full. Bitter, lots of saison phenols (but balanced) . High carbonation. Well made high ABV saison, thats dangerously drinkable, were it not for the overly high carbo. Than again, carbo like this is what Belgians do love.

6.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

--Keg at Waza, Stockholm. -- Clear golden, coarse head. Aroma of red apples and hay. Mid sweet with medium to full body and rounded mouthfeel. Fruity and bready, marzipan and hay. Mid bitter finish.

6.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

New strong saison by the guys of Petre Devos Audenaerde, bottle from De Hopduvel in Ghent. Very thick and foamy, egg-white, mousy, papery lacing head over lightly hazed, deep 'metallic' orangey-tinged 'old gold' beer, turning into a misty peach blonde with sediment. Aroma of canned peaches, coriander seed, banana candy, sweet cider, pancakes, honey, calvados, bread crust, acacia blossoms, fried apple slices, ripe pear, Turkish delight, dried camomile. Sweet onset with hints of dried banana (so less explicit banana ester than expected), peach and cooked apple, even yellow raisin to a certain extent, lively carbonated with sharp minerally and initially even painfully stinging effects, light sourish undertone accentuated by this strong carbonation; smooth, somewhat glueish and vaguely soapy, full body. Sweet-caramelly and white-bready maltiness with a layer of honey-like residual sugars on top, ongoing fruity notes and growing spicy phenols, towards a spicy finish (clear coriander seed) with a relatively mild floral hop bitterishness and lingering honeyish sweetness - all heated by calvados-like, prominent, eventually somewhat astringent alcohol. The alcohol takes over too much in the finish, but more or less behaves decently before that; still, too boozy and sweet for me, like all those sweet and boozy tripels you see in Belgium, both in the old(er) days and today. I guess the aim was to arrive at something along the lines of Dupont's Moinette Blonde or Blaugies' La Moneuse, but those actually do have this seemingly 'wild' saison profile, whereas this one is only a saison in the brewery's description and intentions, but not in the glass. After lovely experiments with sour ales and a few other unusual brews, I cannot help but feeling that this is a bit of a step backwards for this range...

8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

6.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

21/III/20 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent), shared @ home, BB: I/2022 (2020-273)

Clear orange beer, big creamy dense white head, pretty stable, bit adhesive, leaving some patches of foam in the glass. Aroma: malty, grains, some banana, herbal and spicy, bit grassy, some Saison Dupont yeast character, fruity. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: malty start, lots of esters, banana, more banana, pretty bitter, quite some alcohol, sweet touch. Aftertaste: fruity, ripe banana, some peaches, spicy, pretty dry, bit peppery, more banana, some coriander, nice!

7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle from LDW. Hazy golden colour, white foam. Medium carbonation. Rather sweet and yeasty with notes of banana. Some spices. More a tripel than a saison but not bad!