Lost Abbey Brouwers Imagination Series Saison (w/ brett)

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Saison
San Marcos, California USA

Tap at Brouwers. 8/10/08

This could very easily be the best saison I’ve ever tasted. An absolutely exceptional beer in my very favorite style, a riot of rich rustic flavors across the palate, sweet malts minging with sour and bitter notes from the brett, beautiful modest funky complexity, everything in perfect balance. Sensational aroma, I just can’t say enough about how good this saison is. Divine. 9/4/9/5/18=4.5

Bottle at Brouwers 8/15/08

A nice beer, but not the same beast I had from the tap last week. The brett is much more subdued, and instead I get a lot more cloves from the yeast. It’s very good, but it’s not as good as standby and standard-setter Saison Dupont. I’ve got to admit I enjoyed the beer but at the same time was a bit disappointed after the glory that this one was on tap. Maybe with a year of age? I don’t know. I’d call this one at about 8/4/7/4/16=3.9. (But the score for the beer on tap stands - that’s what this one is capable of being.)

Updated rating 12/18/09: bottle @ Brouwer’s shared with after4ever and brewdad post elysian pumpkin fest; interested to see how it would compared to my first impression; pours clear light gold with frothy white head; dry hay, brett, lemons and quite light with very little yeasty spice; soft, light texture is fruity and dry; very little spice or yeasty character; more like a wonderful belgian strong golden with this amount of age on it; bone dry from the brett with lots of fruit, apricot, lemons; delicate and subtle; quite different than before, but equally as yummy

Original rating 5/16/08 (4.3 overall): draft @ brouwer’s sour fest - dark, cloudy orange with white head fading to the edges; texture on the light side with lots of cream in the body; rich flavors of yeast and grain; perfectly smooth and no sourness or much effect from the brett; rich flavors of banana, citrus and slight spice; very rich and chewy; overall, this blew me away and as my second of the night, pretty much wrecked my pallet for the remainder of the evening; drinks soft and smooth, and basically my kind of beer; can’t wait to see this again at brouwer’s in the not to distant future; cheers to lost abbey for a total knockout

Bottle from 5000. Aww yeah. Beautiful pour, huge white head and quite cloudy. Spicy hay nose, very floral, peachy, mild. Flavor is deep and complex, but mellow, thick with yeast, unsweetened chocolate, lavender. Very easy on the palate while retaining a great body. Carbonation is perfect. This is a wonderful saison. Doesn’t seem like it would age well, though.

RBSG ’08. Sampled at the Lost Abbey tasting from the bottle. Very crisp and light aroma of brett funk with a background of Simcoe hops. Tomme was explaining that this is a hybrid of Carnevale Ale. Lots of citrus in the flavor, with a bit less brettanomyces influence than the aroma. A good amount of bitterness on the finish. Light sweetness that ends dry. Well balanced.

Thanks to Tom for this one. Yellow body with a tall fluffy head. Aroma is sweet, bubblegum, bitter yeasty spice. Flavor is slightly of lemon, sweetness all around, a bit of bubblegum.

GABF 2008. Clear gold with white head. Solid mildy bretty nose with a spicy citrus undercurrent. Similar flavors and an incredibly smooth finish.

750mL bottle, courtesy of CaptainCougar. Thanks, Tom! Hazed gold, creamy white head. Lightly funked juicy citrus aromas ride undercurrents of tropical fruit wood and hints of farm. Dry toasty wood and soft sour citric notes round to a light bittersweet finish. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. A winner here for sure…

Bottle. Clear dark gold with a foaming white head. Soft, earthy aromas of mild barnyard, with dry hay and dusty spices., peppercorn. Medium body with a silky smooth mouthfeel. Great farmhouse yeasty flavors with light dusty pale malts, some citrus, with hay and a dry spice show to finish. What an awesome fucking Saison !