New Belgium Saison

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Pours a bright golden with a bountiful white head and a lot of effervescents. The nose is musty, but clean, grassy, oxidized and somewhat stripped. The body is awefully large for such a beer, and sweet. The flavors are rather lacking, not real hop character, lots of belgian esters (not really true to a saison) and completely lacking in peppery phenols. Finish is totally lacking a bitter edge. How is this a saison and not a Belgian Pale??? Let me see, sweet, not dry, estery with no phenols, completely lacking any real hop character... hmm...

12 ounce bottle poured into my Delirium Tremens tulip galss. Bright gold with and orange tint. Bubbly white head. Lemon/lime and orange peel in the aroma. Very spicey. Long citrus and spice flavor with nice bitterness. Light on the palate, but I’d like it to be a bit crisper. One of my favorite form NB though.

12oz bottle poured a clear gold color with a nice white head. The aroma had a yeast sweetness to it with some small amounts of spice in the background. The taste had a small bitterness with the yeast being the main showcase. Very easy drinking with a big lingering finish.

Best By Date January 2007, Sampled September 2006
Pours with a brilliantly clear, golden copper color. It is topped by a frothy, light tan colored head that starts out at about three fingers in thickness and slowly fades from there, all the while leaving some lacing patterns on the side of my tulip glass. The aroma is lightly tart, with a piquant spiciness that leans towards earthy. Notes of yeast, earthy coriander, lemon zest, toasted crackers, black pepper and perhaps a touch of green apple combine to form a fairly complex nose. Really it is best described as having a zesty, tart yeastiness followed by a dry malt driven biscuit character.

The taste is sweetish up front and that carries through to the finish. The carbonation is somewhat light, at least for a Saison, and could certainly be a bit more brisk. In fact with a high level of carbonation this beer would be perceived as much drier, and in my book tastier. The beer has a nice spiciness to it; the spice notes are not too evident and it is hard to pick any single spices out. My guess is that there are some spices in this beer, but I could be wrong. Spice notes that I taste (whether yeast derived or actual spicing) are earthy coriander, lemon zest, a touch of something like ginger, some clove and perhaps some dry pepper notes. The beer has a certain tartness to it, which helps to accentuate fruit notes of green apples and pears.

This is certainly tasty, but seems to be missing the vibrancy of the better Saisons. Bottle conditioning and at least twice the level of carbonation would go a long way for this beer. I have a feeling that it would become much drier and even spicier if it had these two things. As is it is certainly a good beer and I definitely don’t regret buying a six pack of this.

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12 oz bottle via Arctic liquors Beer of The Month club. Pours a clear golden blonde with a very small head. Spicey aroma that smells of bananna and wheat. Well carbonated. Very nice sweet taste that finishes with a crisp dry kick. Flavors of bananna, caramel, and ginger. This is a nice refreshing autumn drink.

12 oz bottle best before 08dec06 on the lable.
Pours clear bronze, minimal head, spotty lacing.
aroma is fruity yeasty and spicy. Notes of banana, corriander, and some breadiness.
flavor is semi sweet, fruity, with a light hoppy finish.
Not very complex, but very drinkable. wish I had another.

This one is pretty good, by far my favorite New Belgium beer. Nice malty taste with a light hopping allows many of the yeast flavors to come through.

Pours a clear golden color, smallish white head, nice lacing. Yeasty aroma, a little bit of banana. Decent flavor, nothing special. Saison lite.