Heavyweight Saison de la Soeur Hoppy

Formerly brewed at Heavyweight Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Ocean Township, New Jersey USA

Bottle. Amber colour with a medium off-white head. Light sweet butter, light caramel, fruity aroma and taste. Medium body with a sweet light dry finish.

Bottle. Hazy amber coloured with a huge off white head. Aroma of fruits and caramel. Fruity flavour of malts and caramel.

I think this was just a one-off? Anyways, I split a 750mL bottle with SuIIy on 4/27/06
Pop of the cap is heartening, as there is ample carbonation, but no gushing. The appearance shows fine aging, with a foamy, large, extremely-well retained white/off-white head that creates sheets of lace on the sides of the glass. Clarity is rather high, having let the sediment/yeast settle in the fridge for some time, but there certainly is plenty of sediment left on the bottom. Moderate amount of tiny bubbles rise about in the liquid.
Diacetyl is detected in the nose before anything else. Arg, not this again. Fortunately, the hoppiness does fight through it to give some herbal, wintergreen like freshness and bitter orange peel from the cascades. Zesty, leafy and quite dry, the oregano/dill-like herbal notes play on top of the restrained, mild Belgian yeast. White bread and just a touch of very light caramel sneak in behind the diacetyl, while more light hop derived fruitiness keeps things lively. Warming, thankfully allows some of the diacetyl to pass, but there is still a trace of butter, that, once detected, is difficult to get around, as much as I would love to just sniff in these gentle, but highly aromatic hops and clean yeast.
The flavor shows the diacetyl too, of course, but fortunately, the diacetyl is even more passing in flavor, after warming and breathing, coming out to just a touch of dry butterscotch on the end. Wintergreen, dill, oregano and light orange zest all burst forth on the tongue, carried on by a snappy, engaging and tight carbonation and finally smoothed out, somewhat, by medium-soft, vanilla-wafer-like maltiness. Fresh cut grass begins to build minor acidity/bitterness on end, but is well balanced with clean yeast and calcium carbonate-like notes. I like how they fermented this cool to reduce the phenols/esters and allow the hops freedom to roam. No alcohol in aroma or flavor. Carbonation is near-perfect, as is the unfiltered texture. I just wish there wasn’t any diacetyl present.....
Big thanks to FrumptyDumpty for the bottle!

750ml provided by jeffin7. Pours a murky, light amber with a small, off-white head. The aroma is caramel, apricot and grapefruit. The flavor is peppery, citrus, light caramel, grassy and floral. The mouthfeel is light with sparkling carbonation.

750ml bottle thanks to jeffin7: Pours to a cloudy golden body with a medium white frothy head that shows some lacing on the glass. The aroma is light apple, pear, fruit, yeast, mild funky yeast, mild spicy hops, earthy hops. Taste is mild soap, sweet pale malts, very mild pepper, tangerine, mild lemon peel, grass, wet grapefruit rind, dry white wine, sour floral hops. Light-medium bodied, moderately carbonated, sweet yet tangy.

(750ml bottle, thanks jeffin7) Medium white head, nice lacing, atop a cloudy golden body. Aroma is medium sweet, floral, spicy, earthy, some grapefruit. Taste is medium sweet, some grassy, spicy/pepper. Light-medium body, some effervescence.

750 mL capped bottle, close to a year old: fairly clear gold, moving towards cloudy bronze at the bottom of the bottle. Soft biscuity aromatics with nice floral notes along side of light pine. Bitter iron and sour hops fill the palate…could be this one is past its prime? Yeasty notes offer an interesting depth and tangy flavours. Not horrible at this point, but I would have to bet that it was better fresh.

Bottle. 750ml. Pours a hazy, dark golden yellow with a very long lasting head. Scents of citrus and bread on the nose. The flavors are minimally hoppy and somewhat sour in an enjoyable kind of way. Lemon, earth, sweet and biscuit flavors intermingle. I enjoyed the Spicy more, but this was still a good one.