Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux

Brewed by Brasserie Dupont
Style: Saison
Tourpes-Leuze, Belgium

Tap @ Toronado 12/31/04. This seemed to be rare find on tap ($8.50/glass) and well worth it. I’ve never seen a bottle of it. A rich orange and gold color with a foamy white head. Candy, bubblegum, spiced and citrus flavors. Smooth and creamy without the bite that I expected at the finish. Sweet finish with a long dry aftertaste.

0.75 l bottle. Dark golden color with big long lasting fluffy head. Tart fruit, honey, herbal hops, woody spices, vanilla, coriander, lemon, orange and grapefruit in the aroma. Tart fruity flavor with lemon, grapefruit, orange liquer, honey, clove, pepper, coriander and herbal bitterness. Softer and better with sediment. Very good beer but I feel that Saison Dupont gives nearly the same complexity with only 6.5 % abv.

I just tapped a keg of this rarity about two hours ago, and something struck me right off, a thing happened that is most uncommon: a beer took my breath away. Looks majestic poured into a St. Bernardus goblet, lush creamy head, hazy pale orange appearance, ...angelic. Aroma, captivating, airy, light citrus, minor sour tones, vibrant fruit, apricot, peach, lemon, gets bolder by the minute, unfolds tangy-er fruit notes, ...uplifting. But it’s in the taste where I was taken back, and I still don’t know if I have language for it, but let us make a valiant effort, anyway. Fruit floods the mouth, but the body is exceptionally light, almost ethereal...it paints a coating of delicious around the mouth that pulls away like a phantom, the echo of this gorgeous fruit flavor, plump with yeast, lingers, resonates, titillates, entices...another sip is in the offing, but it becomes a gulp, and the swallow is urgent, but the effect is the opposite, a magnificent restfulness overcomes me, a mellow rapture,... it stirs the mind and soul, and quenches thirst along the way. Each new sip delivers a similar shock, a brand new spank to the senses, a reacquaintance with this magical feeling. Body is light, but the flavor is powerful and pure, and the finish is long, fruity, perfectly smooth. I laugh at the 9.5% but feel it creeping in as I drain the glass. Hey, maybe it’s just the mood I’m in, but this glass of beer has an absolutely elevating effect. The strength eventually enters into the flavor like a wily snake through a grassy field....lightly spicy, too, to match the fruit...call me a sucker if you must, but I feel my soul has been cracked open, freed and sent aloft, metamorphosized, like hearing new beautiful music for the first time, have a soft spot touched and felt that shiver... Amazing beer. Not good, not great, amazing! Utterly lovely. A great gift from Dupont. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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.

Huge props to matta for sending me this beer! Hazy gold, pretty head that lasts. The aroma has that barnyard funk going, along with a bit of tangerine and grain. Flavor matches, but goes through stages as it warms. In the beginning, the finish has a dry, spicy note, almost a hop bitterness. As it warms, more citric fruit flavors come through, along with a faint barnyard note. Another exceptional brew from one of my absolute favorite brewers.

750 mL bottle purchased at Covell Nugget in Davis, CA. 2007 vintage. Aroma is dominant with a fair amount of cereal grains, mildly cheesy fun, and floral, spicy, piney hops emanating from the glass. Also has a touch of ethanol with some yeast esters. Mild to moderately hazy honey-colored body with a nice, frothy bubbly white head and nice lacing. An attractive brew. Quite a carbonated start, which becomes pretty bitter pretty quickly. A great deal of herbal, spicy hoppiness is present to start. In the middle, there is definitely some cereal graininess and minute amounts of floral sweetness. Finishes with a bit of ethanol flavoring and more dry-ish herbal bitter hop flavors. A good brew, but I am not a huge saison guy.

12.28.04 750ml bottle. Pours brilliant, hazy golden, highly effervescent, ridiculously massive, rocky, sticky white head. The room is filled with wonderful citrus, pear, Belgian yeasty aromas, hints of funk, fontina, white grape. This beer is going to be good and I’m completely surprised...I really didn’t know what to expect. The first sip reveals a glorious brew that seems a cross between wheat beer, abbey tripel, and saison: it’s strong, for sure, so sweet and smooth, dabblings in banana, spice (corriander), lithe citrus hints that dance and play with subtle funk. Cool driness helps to finish the brew and makes it unwittingly drinkable. Enjoyable throughout. Great beer.

Pendulous foamy white head and slightly hazy lemon yellow body with substantial streaming carbonation. Aroma of bread, yeast, apples, citrus, toasty malts, and light esters. Organic flavor of orange citrus, wheat, hay, leather, and aspartame with medium bitterness, medium acidity, and medium sweetness. Nicely rounded with considerable depth. A great saison. My favorite.