McKenzie Avec Les Bons Voeux

Formerly brewed at McKenzie Brew House
Style: Saison
Glen Mills, Pennsylvania USA

Bottle sampled at jeffc666’s B-day gathering 2/6/05: This was brought to VA from the brewery on the same day that I tried it(thanks to jeffin7). It pours hazy yellow straw color with a large white head. The aroma is sweet, with notes of sugar, pepper, grass, spice, yeast. I’m amazing at how creamy this is, it’s got a great mouth feel. Vanilla, banana, cheese, pepper, lemon, and pine round out the taste. Bubbly and fizzy.

Sampled at jeffc666’s gathering. Cloudy yellow with a thick white head. Aroma of clove, yeast, vanilla, banana and some floral qualities. Taste also has notes of banana, yeast and orange peel. Pleasantly sweet, lightly bitter. Medium bodied with some lightly fizzy carbonation. Very solid stuff.

Cloudy brown yellow body. Big sweet banana aroma, light clove, allspice, and lemon. The flavor is quite interesting, lots of spices, lightly nutty, alcohol, medium bitter, banana, and lemon. Assertive spritzy palate medium body. Interesting for sure.

(750ml bottle brought to VA from the brewery by jeffin7 the day I tried it) Cloudy golden body with white head. Aroma is medium sweet, strong banana, some clove, lemon, light pepper. Taste is medium sweet, banana, clove, pepper. Bubbly light-medium head. Enjoyable, but the banana was too strong.

Enjoyed with Eric & Michael. Thanks go out to Bert for this one. Bronze colored translucent. Aroma is fruity (bananas & apples) and yeasty. Flavor had an appealing tartness about it. Finish was slightly dry . Another great beer from McKenzie’s.

Spectacular beer - very fruity, with more banana esters than expected. Big herbal bouts of bitterness (carrot tops) come in throughout and last a long time. Yeast was very distributed, but that was just fine - making the beer a delicious-looking hazy coppper. The spice was subdued and the beer wasn’t as dry as some of my fave saisons, but no matter, as this was truly great. Thanks to JCW for sharing.

Poured a hazy copper color with a large, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Citrus, spicy banana, yeast, light hoppiness in the aroma. More citrus, lemongrass, vanilla, yeast, and peppery alcohol in the taste. An amazing beer!

Pale tangerine with a honey glow. Opaque. Dense, half-finger head of whipped milk consistency leaves webby lace. Intensely hoppy, but astonishingly balanced nose of perfumey esters, lemon balm, fragrant hops, honeydew, and fennel. Boldly herbal, spicy yeast notes, as well. Densely creamy mouthfeel. First impression is vivaciously herbal and spicily estery, but mutedly hoppy, with poignant, but oily, hop bitterness sneakily flashing its tingly sting. Immaculate attenuation makes room for grassy fennel and white pepper hints. Remains boisterously hoppy, though, as lemony Styrians unleash their juicy outburst with fervent yeast and drying herbal underpinnings. Pilsner malt temporarily beefs up the body and lends a touch of sweetness, but slowly succumbs to the chalky yeast dryness. Ends dry and exquisitely clean, yet with a misty moist fullness of polished juicy hop flavors, peppery phenols, and zesty yeast sparkle. Thanks to the mastermind, himself, in Scott M., for crafting such a special brew. Phenomenal work!