On tap at The Commons, pours a clear blonde with a small white head. Aroma is nearly nonexistent, with a touch of ginger. Flavour is very subdued, with notes of ginger and biscuity malt. Finishes light and spicy. Forgettable but decent.

On tap at The Commons, pours a clear blonde with a small white head. Aroma is subdued, with notes of grape must, some vinous notes and light saison yeast. Flavour is dynamic, with funky brett, floral notes and light grape juice. Quite deep for the style, with a dry, floral and funky finish. Very good.

Bottle at GABF. Pours a clear gold with medium white head leaving spotty lacing. The aroma is wheat, floral, citrus. Medium body, citrus, wheat, light crisp finish, good.

American saison (or ’farmhouse ale’ as they tend to call it - thereby including bière de garde and modern, often ’wild’ American elaborations) from a 75 cl champagne bottle bought online. ’Papery’ lacing, medium thick, regular, egg-white, moussy head with good retention, atop a pale straw blonde beer with slightly greenish hue, initially seemingly clear but actually already bearing a very diffuse haze, perturbed by strings of vivid carbonation. Aroma of garden weeds, withered nettles, hay, banana, rucola, unripe gooseberries, raw spinach, old stale lime juice, dandelions, soap, gypsum, pear, chalk, pineapple, dust, bubblegum, dried lemon peel, hard green apple. Very fizzy in the mouth, hugely overcarbonated, difficult to drink and numbing the taste buds, souring an otherwise estery sweetish and sourish onset of banana, gooseberry and pineapple; this overly sharp carbo quiets down as the bottle stands open for a while, of course, but still remains quite pointy till the end. Supple mouthfeel, light and slick, unsurprisingly coarsened a lot by the overcarbonation. Sweetish cereally and sharpish grainy middle, soapy too, with some white candi sugar sweetishness on top, along with the esters and spicy phenols; ends in a drying, very grassy and hayish, floral hop bitterness, no real New World hoppiness (apart from that lime-like touch) but more of a classically European - including Belgian - hop profile, pleasant and earthy, going down with juicy cereal traces and the last remnant of the banana ester, which is there from the beginning but does not overpower anything and fits well into the whole; something weirdly gypsum-like lingers in the finish which I did not find all too pleasant. Still, all things considered, very convincing as an old school Belgian blonde ale, I must say; light (and pale lager-like in its malt profile), crisp, fizzy and estery in the right places, with an earthy, weedy, spicy hop finish, this can qualify as a saison - it is clear that the Dupont example has been taken quite literal here. The banana annex bubblegum ester sweetness is unnecessary for me - I have had this one time too many in actual Belgians - and the overcarbonation bothered me at the start, but otherwise I could have been told I was drinking some rural Belgian blonde and would have believed it. If this was the intention, mission accomplished.

Bottle thanks to Chow. Pours a very dark brown with small tan head that lasts. The aroma is wood, roast, cocoa. Medium body, roast, chocolate, wood, bourbon, light dry finish, very good.

Tap @ Beer Temple. Clear deep amber/copper to brown color. Off white head, not much. Aroma’s of sugar and red fruit. Retronasal it’s red fruit, sweet. Flavor is moderate sweet, caramel, light roast. Medium bodied. OK but nothing exciting.

Tap at BeerTemple. Clear reddish brown with small beige head. Lots of brown sugar and caramel, light roasted notes, milk chocolate. There’s a light herbal and alcoholic touch in the finish. Medium sweet and bitter. Medium bodied with slick feel.

Bouteille 750ml, bottle share. Couleur jaune dorée translucide, mousse blanche. Arôme de levure, floral. Goût de levure, acidité moyenne-élevée, citron, malt. Carbonatation moyenne, corps moyen.

Bouteille 750ml, bottle share. Couleur jaune très pâle translucide, mousse blanche. Arôme flora, levure, céréales. Goût de levure, citron, floral, sèche, légère acidité, poussiéreuse. Carbonatation moyenne, corps moyen.