Lost Abbey Brouwers Imagination Series Saison (w/ brett)

Name: Brouwer’s Imagination
Date: September 07, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Brouwer’s, Seattle
Vintage: 2008
Appearance: clear gold, creamy white head, lots of tiny bubbles, lots of sticky lace
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, lots of funky barnyard brett
Overall: sweet malt flavor, lots of balancing hops, big spicyness from both the hops and phenolics, brett is emerging to add a light musty character but can continue to evolve for years, light bitter spicy finish
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.8/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: *** /4

Brouwers Café – Seattle, WA
Aroma: Sour aroma with strong alcohol lingering. Big Beer with Brett yeast.
Appearance: Golden in color, hazy with a thin head.
Flavor: Big Brett yeast flavors sour with fruit and spicy.
Palate: Dry with a smooth tart finish.
Overall: Interesting brew with a great tart and fruit flavor/aromas. Light with lots of alcohol. This was a big big beer.

Thick blonde pour. Musky herbal aroma; some cheese, and minerals; very dry and definitely indicating a lot of funk to come in the taste.

But not so much. The flavor is zesty and fulsome; brown spices; nutmeg, sandy cardamom, candle wax or incense; quite strong spicy and herbal. Golden, sunny fruitiness softens these sensations with a calm sweetness; hops are there, cool and leafy, and laid back, and highlighting the herbal flavors .

Yeast pour thickens and sweetens it with a nice doughy texture. Some adhesive tartness brings back some of the initial funkiness shown in the nose; it finishes oily and musty; generously long; handsomely reserved.

Big thanks to Andre for this rarity, poured into a tulip. Pours a brilliantly clear golden orange with a big fluffy white head that shows excellent retention and leaves some spotty lacing along the sides. The bubbles feed up from the bottom leaving a solid cap throughout. The aroma is much sweeter than I was expecting, with tons of light fruit with apricots seemingly the most dominant. There is some yeasty spiciness with a bit of barnyard funk, but not a lot, as well as a bready aroma as well. The taste is much the same as the aroma with the light sweet fruits dominating with pears and apricots playing a major role. The Belgian yeast and toasted biscuits form a solid that leaves a bit of spice in the finish along with a very small brett presence. The mouthfeel is spritzy with lots of carbonation and extremely lively on the palate overall. It’s light to medium bodied and slightly dry in the finish. This is another great Belgian style beer from Tomme and Lost Abbey. It’s much lighter on the brett than I was expecting, but it’s a fantastic saison and possibly the most drinkable I’ve ever had in the style. Excellent.

GABF 09 DR. BILL FALLING ROCK TASTING: Orange poured into my glass and it kind og had a golden hue to it. The frothiness atop presented itself in simple angels halo. the nose felt thick with its cowebby yeastiness..extremely thick it was, yes. Flavors were more of the cobwebby types with chalky flavors and a chalky mouth. Maybe I’ll re-rate, maybe I won’t...in any event, lost abbey deserves a shitty rating for sole fact of selling mass quantities of flat beer...of which this was not one of them.

Bottled, 2008 version. Clear gold yellow color. The aroma is grassy and honey, lightly sour, cereal biscuits, fruity, ginger. A very good saision.

Cloudy/hazy yellow colour. Citrus aroma. Quite carbonated. Little hoppiness with a sharp finish. Kind of tart, slightly fruity.

Light cloudy blonde with vigorous carbonation. Lightly bready yeastiness in the nose followed by herbal, mildly spicy, yeasty, bready, lightly phenolic flavors. Sourdough yeasty finish. Overall, a nice bready and biscuity accented saison. I didn’t really discern any Brett character, however perhaps this subtelty will add complexity over time. Definitely worth another tasting a couple years down the line.