Saison de Pipaix

Brewed by Brasserie à Vapeur
Style: Saison
Leuze-Pipaix, Belgium

bottle at Falling Rock. amber pour with almost no head. apricot, funky malts, wet paper, alcohol aroma. smooth and earthy. dried apricot, spice and mild yeast. corriander. good balance. body moderate to thin. loved it.

75 cl bottle. Hazy yellow with a small frothy head. Aroma has a dry sour character with barnyard funk and cellar along with some citrus. Flavor is very dry in the beginning but evolves into a refreshing citric beer with some yeasty hints, overall a great saison.

Re-rate: It was a few years ago. Now bottle 75 cl. Great saison ! Hazy golden-orange color with frothy white head. Aroma complex sawn wood, pepper and bit spice. Medium body. Taste very fresh and lively on the palate, very dry spicy (pepper) flavour. Nice stuff.

Bottled. Orange, slightly hazy, colour with mediumsized off-white creamy head, nice lace. Aroma is slightly fruity but mainly bigtime earth, mould and barnyard. A bunch of spices also. Flavour is pleasant spicing, earthyness, wood, some sourness and at the same time sweet fruity. Nice balance and really full palated.

Strongly herbal aroma and flavor. Coriander comes through strongly it seems along with a white pepper (though coriander isn’t even listed as an ingredient). A vague fruitiness could be the orange peel but also a sugary sweet malt too. No hint of anise to be sure. Almost a minty leafy character that perhaps could include the lichen but who knows? Complex, weird, funky, neat. Nearly pure amber color, good foamy head.

I will admit I have been seriously slacking in my attention to the saisons for quite some time. I have been mostly focusing on trying new American stuff. But let’s get back into the swing of things. Shall we? Pours a foggy orange brown. Nose is mild funk, but not much there. Flavor is a bit lighter than I would have figured. Definite citrus tones. Funk seems to fall off a bit too quickly I think, but still there is plenty there to enjoy. Feel is a little thin I think and the carbonation is decent. Overall this is a lighter saison that goes down very easy and would be great to drink on a blazing hot summer day.

First bottle I had was a few years ago; it was an awful experience! After reading some positive reviews I figured I just got a bad bottle and decided to try again: Pours a burnt gold with a modest head that quickly recedes. Smells like chinese restaurant table mustard, fungus, and anise, but also brett-like sourness. The taste is more balanced, with a nice cereal malt thing anchoring down all those weird flavors, and hops really blend well with the spices. Kind of a thirst quencher, albeit a peppery, funky one. Not unlike Fantome in this respect, but the flavor profile is more "sharp" and vinegar-y. The finish is extra dry, leaving only vinegar and fruit behind. A nice thing about this beer is that all the flavors unfold in a very discernable and complementary way. Probably not a beginner’s beer, and I know there are some drain pours out there, but I recommend it to those who have a nose (and a tongue) for adventure.

[1994 bottle graciously shared with Chris at Ebenezer’s] Opened with a mild ’pop’, and poured with minimal carbonation. Funky aroma, tart, musty, almost like an aged Orval, or gueuze... time has funked this beer out BIG TIME. Flavors are really quite interesting-- tart, dry and mildly spicy, with a contrasting funky, acidic note. Super dry-- BONE dry finish. Really nice, overall...it’s interesting to see what time will do to a beer. Drinking this was quite a learning experience.