750mL bottled 5/27/15, drunk 10/20/15.
Big pop from the cap, followed by a highly clear, brilliant, sparkling golden liquid issuing forth. A very large white head sits atop with strong retention. Sediment left behind on the bottom. So far so good.
Wow, that is refreshing to smell....after nearly being beaten in to submission by sour saisons, barrel aged saisons, fruited saisons, non-saison saisons, American saisons, etc....I think this is actually a saison! Baked bread, dough, black and white pepper, delightfully spicy hops and very low fruitiness, with light mustiness, earthiness and cellar qualities. Very light malt qualities overall, or I should say, nicely attenuated. The only drawback/flaw I found was a fairly prominent compound from what I associate with adjunct sugar fermentation (sort of vaguely vanillin-cotton candyish); not sure the culprit, as I can’t imagine they used candi sugar. Could just be too much dextrose in the bottle conditioning. No alcohol noted.
In the mouth, the beer follows from the nose. Delightful baked grains, honey and a near perfect amount of bitterness/hop apparency. Noble hops galore, with none of the American-hopped saison madness traits. The attenuation is spot-on, being more dry than Dupont (though a bit less hoppy too keep the balance) and about on par with Blaugies. Delightful phenols, no alcohol and a wonderfully creamy, tightly carbonated, unfiltered texture. A touch of vanilla/cake icing-like flavor and perhaps just a bit of vegetal character from the hops, but these are nitpicked very minor qualms. By and large this is a fantastically drinkable saison in the best sense of the word. One I’d happily put right up with the best Belgian/French examples. Been a LONG time since I’ve had what was once one of my favorite breweries on the East Coast and it’s good to see that they are still absolutely killing it! Cheers and thanks for the bottle, Youri!