Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux

75 cl bottle. Cloudy orange with a big, lacing head. Complex fruity aromas of pears and grapes. Fruity flavours, starting with pears and grapes, moving to raisins towards the finish. Sweet, but well-balanced. Dryish finish. Medium carbonation and full-bodied. Warming alcohol. A Saison Grand Cru with all its complexity and refreshing qualities.

Easily the highlight of the tasting. Hazed golden color with a taller white foamy head. Aromas of dry malt, light clover honey, herbs drying in the wind and a hint of citrus. Sweet dough start gives way to citric and spice. Yeast presence with more pepper and herbs. A great example of the style.

Thanks to JPDIPSO for opening and sharing this one. Fresh aroma, fruity grapes, caremel, yeasty with a hint of a lightly toasted bread with dried fruit. Very cloudy yellow with a tall white head. Complex citrusy and peppery with a sweet fruitiness mid-palate that changes into a complex caramel and dried fruit finish. Dry texture and a great mouthfeel. Very drinkable and complex.

Thanks to JPDISPO for opening up this one (and thanks to Clark for the bottle that I’m now able to cellar!) Hazy body with some sediment, and a muted golden-yellow color underneath a head mirrored after pillowy laundry suds and snowstorm lacing. Sugary lemon rinds turning south tempt the senses, followed by coriander and sweet orange peel. Lemon grass and lime juice brush on willow wheat come out in the next waft. Bitter orange peel graces through soon thereafter, moments before the yeast strain lets you know it’s the reason why we’re all here. Take a sip and we’re quite certain that this is one seriously flavored saison. Buttery sweet dough and vanilla buttercream seep in over sucked on lemonheads. Coriander gives a subtle scratch, but the confectionary bakers delight pursues and even sweeter path. Big puffy effervescence and in the dry recession, the spices coriander and chamomile rise up splendidly. Bakery lemon meringue cuts close to spruce. Light hotness if you open the mouth up to the atmosphere post-gestation. Lemon peel and dry beet sugar give a hot, warming finish. This is a beautiful thing.

Thanks John. The beer pours to a hazy straw colored body with lots of small particulate in suspension. Foamy white head. The aroma is very nice. Floral toasted malts, lemon grass, nicely delicate and aromatic. The flavor is spicy lemons, bananas, and yeast. Malty with floral hops. Lavendar I think. The palate is medium-bodied. Zesty. Quite delicious.

Tosa Tasting - June 24, 2006

I lost track of who brought this or opened it, but thanks to whoever did. There is a reason this is one of the highest rated saisons on the site - because it deserves the honors.

Aroma / Appearance - A huge, dense yellow bubbly head subsided slowly, trickling down the sides of my glass leaving behind traces of lacing that lingered. The bouquet was rich with fruity notes - apples, pears and an overall sweetness. In addition, I was reminded of honey smoked ham as it hung in the rafters aging.

Flavor / Palate - The first impression was dry and peppery but soon gave way to a pleasant combination of sweet fruity flavors. The mouthfeel was just about right for a saison. It did not completely fill my mouth with intense flavors, but at the same time I did not have to guess at what pleasures were in my mouth. The spicy characteristic stuck around throughout the entire glass. It was never overpowering or intense but gave a nice balance to the beer. I enjoyed this; if I see if on the shelf around Madison it might be getting a second look in the future.

Oh baby! Poperinge brought this out when the Stanley Cup came on the ice (2006). The whole room smelled like a wet barn when he popped the cork. Heavy carbonation. Tiny particulate. Closer up the aroma is salty with some cheese notes. Surprising up front sweetness in the flavour. Salty. Dry and dusty in the nose. Tasty but hard to describe. Reminds me of the joy of that first IPA in tasting something new and phenomenal.

Lovely, cloudy, bright straw coloured body with a large and lasting white head. Full aroma of yeast, peaches, some orange and spice. Taste is pretty much what the aroma promises, sweet but balanced by spices, medium body for easy drinking, long finish, alcohol noticeable but not offensive. Enjoyed this very much. Yes I am starting to get partial to Saisons.