Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux

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

Vintage 2002. Cork practically blew off of this bottle. Great carbonation for being 3 years old. 3/4 inch dense and creamy head of very fine bubbles. Amazing carbonation keep the head on the surface for the duration. The lacing that this brews leaves is more like a quilt than a thin sheet. Fruity aroma with lemons, yeast and grass. An initial bit of skunkyness but that passes as the brew gets a chance to breath. Bright gold in color with good clarity. Light and crisp flavor with more fruityness, some spices (pepper), a nice alcohol warming and a big helping of green sour apples. Finish has a little alcohol kick that goes right to the head. Clean finish that is crisp and zippy. A fantastic saison and one that has aged great!

2007 vintage, cloudy honey gold hue, with a thick white head, leaving laces, yeasty, fruity, floral bouquet nose of lavender, rose petal with some spicy, lemon, grapefruit, peach, tangerine hop fruitiness, with some honeyed ppale malt in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a yeasty, honeyed pale malt, fruity, herbal flower character of lavender, with a faint fruitiness of ripe apples, with a good flowery hop citrusy, of lemon skin, leading towards a warmth, fruity, leafy hop dryness finish.

New -several samples of the 2004 - how can you tell? L04 on the label. The 2004 is different than this beer has been in several years, apparently. It’s dry-hopped now, and it cuts the sweetness considerably. Like liquid flowers and herbs, flowing all over your sweet cottony saison. Lovely. Original: Highly spicy and also pretty sweet and also a lot of alcohol. Umm. That’s not bothering me tonight! Actually, I like the little bit of barnyard stink in the nose, the itty bitty wafts of candi sugar, but there’s no weird ’herbal essence’ or minerality. It is a lot like a triple. Just enough funkiness to keep it real interesting. But Fantome Winter and de Pipaix are the real loves of my afeared Saison life.

Cork (which pops out as soon as I take off the cage) says 2004. Poured into a tulip. Extreme head of 4 inches from very careful pour. Floral grass and hay notes. Nice gold color - head very gradually dissipating. Very full with sour apple, pepper and hops. Dry alcohol with a burn in the finish.

Just didn’t do it for me. Very few saisons do. Light amber with a champagne-like head. The aroma was spicy, yeasty, cidery, fruity. Medium body, smooth mouthfeel, lively carbonation. Flavor was spicy, acrid, funky, unpleasant. No thanks.

Taste is very yeasty at first sip. Aroma has a slight spicy with a faint haze to it. The head is attractive yet dissipates rather quickly. The fizzy carbonation tickles your tongue. The rest has a harsh spicy taste yet is very satisfying .

750, about a year old at this point. Still very fresh and pert in its flavors, with a big golden body and huge head/lacing. The winter spices intended to differentiate this from the standard Dupont saison are verrrrry subtle - a hint of cardamom, some vanilla, a very faint sour apple. Basically it’s a fine and distinct saison that’s as good during this brutal heat as it is during the winter. Kudos!

750 ml corked bottle:
Appearance: Murky brass colour. Lively head
Aroma: Apple juice and orange peel. Brett?
Flavour: Dry, yeasty and oaky with notes of allspice.
Palate: Light body, boozy finish.
Overall: A bit too strong for its own good.