Saison de Pipaix

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

Bottle from Capital Ale House Innsbrook. Bottled January 1995. Strawberry red pour with no head. Sour apple/funk aroma. Taste is funk, sour cherry, pepper, anise and maybe some wood notes. Finish is somewhat vegetal in a good way. Tongue-grabbing texture.

Pour is a orange with a big white head. Aroma is very dusty and earthy with some lemon and cork. Flavor is sour and tart with some spice and a nice mustyness. Finish is smooth and easy to drink after the initial tartness. Decent for a try and adequate but a little to sour for me.

Thanks to Mike for opening this! Poured hazy medium orange with a short, looser cap of white head. The aroma picked up sour tangerine notes and vinegar with some medium-skinned fruits behind.. dusty and sour.. didn’t really do it for me. The flavor was sour with the same fruits and vinegar present.. some fruity and paler malt sweetness behind.. mostly sour with OK balance. Sour, as mentioned, on the palate and medium-bodied.. dry, especially on the back.. OK feel. Looking at recent ratings, I should give this another shot.

750ml. Unusual nose. Lychee perhaps with a touch of ginger? Some dusty basement funkiness. Dried, cut flowers. Late fall leaf and grass pile all with an underlying pear like sweetness. Aroma continue to develop long after the beer opens up. Honeysuckle, melon, white pepper and the star anise really starts to come to the fore after a while. A pleasant crusty malt base with plenty of grassy hops mixed in as well. Fantastic, really. I have yet to encounter a saison with such a complex bouquet.

Rich, dark copper pour with a decent sized white head leaving light drippy lace. Flavor is full of dry earthiness. Like someone bundled up a leaf pile, threw some spices in, fermented it and added a bit of noble hops. Again, as with the nose, the anise shines after a while. Dirty melon, dusty basement, dried flowers, mint chocolate (?). Shit this is good stuff. Medium bodied with the perfect amount of carbonation for a saison. Finishes with a lengthy dirty, melon and earthy finish.

Thanks Alan. You said this was good, but damn! What a surprise. Wonderful!

Sampled at Jans Saison tasting! Thanks! Appearance: Slightly murky orange/red colour with zero head. Aroma: Honey and malt, ginger and spice. Flavour: Under ripe watermelon, spice, pepper and a finish of malt,

Pours hazy orange with a large white head. Aroma of musty wood, lemongrass, stone, and a little funk. There’s some tart fruit in there, as well. And a hell of a lot of earth, rotten leaf-covered, muddy, unwashed earth. Awesome. The flavor is acidic and tart, almost like a toned-down gueuze, with a great deal of musty earth and herbal spice. The non-intrusive carbonation lets all the flavors come through. Very impressive, distinct saison.

This was a truly beautiful beer. thick cheese cloth lacing with a hazy orange pour, but this just comes alive in the nose, with strong herbal and floral scents, a bit of garden spices, but very fresh. Just a bit of sour funkiness and wet blanket on the palate. Lots of fruits intertwined with a biscuity fruit glazed malt. This was highly enjoyable.

No idea of the age of this bottle, but everything about it is earthy and cellared, from the torn and faded label, to the corroded, moist cork that disintegrated and fell into the bottle when I opened it - hazy, peach-colored beer, with a soapy, lasting head - very musty and earthy aroma, with ginger, orange peel, anise, fairly strong tartness, faint biscuit-like character, some mild white wine-like tannins, and subtle background funkiness (very interesting aroma - I’ve been smelling the beer for five minutes now and haven’t taken a sip yet) - the flavor starts off with some interesting white wine character, moderate acidity, some tart, almost sour citrus character - afterwards, the spices settle on top of softly sweet malts and a biscuity character, and over time gradually impart a spiciness - however, the mild, earthy tartness always remains underneath, as does a very subtle funkiness - lots of wood/cork throughout - probably one of the most interesting flavor and aroma profiles I’ve encountered in a somewhat straightforward saison - I want to buy a case of this stuff and open one per year to watch how this develops.