Bière Darbyste

Brewed by Brasserie de Blaugies
Style: Traditional Ale
Dour-Blaugies, Belgium

Hazy blonde pour with a thin white head. Good aroma of belgian funk and fruits. Good flavor of funk, yeast and fruits, it is well dry.

750 ml bottle into a Footed Pilsner glass. Pours a very hazy golden yellowish color with a foamy retentive white head. The aroma is very Earthy with grassy and saisony type hints to it. A tiny bit of hops comes through the Earth. The flavor comes on with a smooth Earthy grassy dirt note that slowly progesses into a figgy hop finish that lingers. Citrus notes are very present through the whole thing. Very dry, and medium carbonation are present. Found this one at Uber in Seattle, something we don’t have at Bottleworks. Quite nice!

Bottled. Very strong aroma of herbs and grass mixed with a little bit of dust. Hazy, amber color, beige firm and stable head, very nice lace. Sour start, dry bitter, grassy, herbal, citric, dry. Very interesting, not much of these beers around any more.

2005 bottle (75cL), Bordeaux glass, roughly room temperature. The head is frothy and rocky, quite firm and immense at first pour. Just beneath is a hazy body with shades ranging from gold to peach to orange. Huge sourdough bread notes open the affair slamming right into elements of orange zest and a dusty cellar. Peppery hops and/or yeast tones abound. Figs sit comfortably in the back row, allowing their characteristic nuttiness to show through on occasion. Herbal cilantro, nearly minty, aromas come on late as the beer warms, as does a hint of strap leather. Really a well integrated Saison-ish aroma with no jagged edges and smile-inducing complexity. If the figs were in the back row in the aroma, they’ve taken off their clothes and are running about the theater in the flavor. So to speak. Upfront, bready malts are straddled by zesty citric acidity and a tart yeastiness. Mid-palate is full of sour, almost funky earthen elements and herbal characteristics. The herbs carry into the finish, which happens to be quite peppery, and all of it dries out into an incredibly long, nutty aftertaste. Easily carrying enough oomph to make me guess around 7 or 8 % abv, I’m surprised to see such a sturdy brew in such a modest cloak. Very soft mouthfeel, carrying no mineral roughness, almost velvet like. Carbonation is intense--thankfully, considering the intense flavors and the building, plum sweetness at the front of my tongue. Very nice indeed…a big congrats to the (beautiful) insanity which is Belgian brewing.

bottle split with tronraner: Hazy light pour with a foamy head. The aroma is leaves something to be desired. It smells like a mild tripel with some pilsner notes and a touch of fig, not entirely bad I suppose. It’s moderately sweet with papery hops and the fig becomes a little noticeable in the finish along with doughy, yeasty notes. It’s pretty dry overall.

750 mL bottlte. Pours gold with large white head and lots of effervescence. The aroma is Saaz hops, yeast, some lemon zest, and a barely detectable waft of fig. The flavor is the same, with a slight maltiness. The finish is rather dry, but the aftertaste is clean. Not very exciting.

Hazy amber-orange appearance with a large, off white head and a fair amount of lacing. Yeasty aroma with hints of fruit, especially pears and green apples poking through. Fizzy carbonation introduced a taste that was tart, dry, slightly sour and yeasty. Palate was compemented by a vinous quality that added to the complexity. Did not pick up on the added fig juice until late in the finish.

Foam breached the bottle upon opening. Pours a light cloudy orange with an enormous billowing frothy head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is sweaty, horsey, stinky cheese with a persistent winey character and an underlying fig character. I wouldn’t have known it was there if it had not been written on the label. Clearly infected bottle. Just nasty stuff. Pedio and acetobacter. I want my $8 back. I’ll re-rate if I try it again.