Saison – Revisited
I brewed my Saison back in the beginning of June and I now finally feel as though it has reached maturation. This been was giving me issues in the beginning, in particularly carbonation issues, but now I find it to be just a superb Belgian-style beer.
The beer pours a slightly hazy copper-amber color into my new tulip glass. The haze appears to be a chill haze after comparison to a room-temperature bottle which poured brilliantly clear. The beer now stands a good two fingers high with foam and leaves a light and slight Belgian-lace on the glass. Minus the haze, the appearance is beautiful.
The aroma is rather complex, which is good. First things that hit: spicy, peppery, rose-like, and alcohol notes. Next: Floral, a little solvent-esque, some rum, and some toffee aromas. The aroma fills the nose and burns just a little, which could be a hint at fusel alcohols which are the kind you don’t want in the beer.
The taste matches the aroma, peppery, alcoholic, some rum. Not very Saison like, but not non-Saison like, but good, interesting, growing, and complex.
The mouthfeel is medium to medium light with springy carbonation but no where close to effervescent. A little slick on the palate, a little smooth, a little hot, but complimentary to each other. The slickness reminds me of beers that are made with rye, yet this been contains no rye.
Overall I’d say this is a quite a delicious Belgian-style beer, but maybe not the best Saison. I thoroughly enjoy drinking this beer and could easily have another, but I think the drinkability range would stay near two for this beer. It did turn out to be close to 8% alcohol by volume plus with the excess of spicy flavor, it is one to appreciate. I still have about a half of a case left if anyone is interested in trying it before it is gone.
October 4th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Raises hand – I’m interested in trying one 🙂