6.3

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

New Circus beer, likely brewed in their own installation which opened last year; a classically styled saison, steinie bottle from Dranken Geers. Quite thick, frothy, initially audibly crackling, egg-white, moussy, stable head remaining closed for a while before gently breaking up; initially clear golden blonde robe with apricot hue and lots of sparkling rushing through, turning misty and eventually unattractively murky-ochre as more of the bottle goes into the tasting glass. Odd aroma of soggy old bread, oxidized red apple flesh, tamarillo, rusk, old bergamot tea, damp coriander powder, tofu, old orange peel, phenolic clove, cooked marrow (likely from phenols as well), spoiled tomato soup (probably from oxidation), old sweet potatoes, chamomile, freshly ironed cotton cloth, rotten lettuce, banana, dried thyme. Fruity, sweetish onset, ripe pear, apple peel and some banana with a dash of tamarillo or cherry tomato thrown in, adding a slight sourish accent which in itself gets reinforced by very active, minerally carbonation (but not too much so for a saison); supple body, bready middle with associations of leftover dough, old rusk and soggy chicken food, a bit 'plump' and bending under overt yeastiness especially in the end - yeastiness which brings a retronasal wave of 4-vinyl-guaiacol, in the clove-like way, but also in the meaty way (cooked chicken). Vegetable-like accents enhance a general 'soupy' feeling in the end, reminiscent of chicken soup and tomato soup turning to the spoiled side; extra spiciness includes hints of white pepper and vague thyme, before an earthy, quite long and resinous hop bitterness appears to save the day. Indeed this hoppiness, adding notes of damp hay and withering chamomile, brings a welcoming dryness and spiciness to a finish where otherwise bready and even slightly powdery yeastiness prevail; some of the estery fruity notes live on till the end as well, as do all the phenols. Smells unattractively soupy and 'old', starts off rather bland and again 'old', but thanks to the hops, ends rather dry and 'beery' with a pleasant spicy note; if I could give points for the finish ('afdronk') alone, these would probably be the only good points given. Feels messy, my sample is already oxidized on top (shame on Geers some would say, but I can understand that they cannot keep literally everything up to date with such a range) and feels generally 'soupy' and disarrayed - so not a successful saison for me, not even a successful generic Belgian blonde if that would have been the intention. The spiciness, quenching properties and dry finish are there, but the whole feels 'off' and out of balance. What a bummer after that much more satisfying 'Première', the first beer this bizarre brewing operation produced in their own kettles... Sorry guys, this was probably a lot better when young and fresh, but I can only judge it in the way it reached my tasting table, I'm afraid.