Southampton Cuvee des Fleurs

Bottle from the brewpub. I was very excited to try this beer and it didn’t disappoint. Pours a burnt orange with no head. Aroma of lots of spices, vegetables, pumpkin pie, and lemon meringue. Flavor most strongly of pumpkin pie (canned pumpkin), some cinnamon, nutmeg, and citrus. Sweet and spicy. The flowers add interesting flavor to this beer and it was quite unlike other saisons I’ve had before (except for maybe some Fantomes). Definitely worth a try (and I’d like some more).

Bottle at the brewpub. Aroma of all sorts of spices and both herbal and perfumy notes (I would assume from the flowers). Flavor not really perfumy but has a light background sweetness with absolutely fascinating interplay of spicy and herbal notes that I couldn’t have identified individually, let alone as a whole. And they do indeed work together as a whole in a way so unique...I came up with my numerical score quite easily, but the words just didn’t come for me. Truly an experience you have to have yourself.

Bottle courtesy of Doclock -- thanks for hooking me up with this much-desired beer!

Pours a golden orange with a modest white head. The nose admittedly recalls those tourist knick-knack shops that I’m terrified of being dragged into by my wife, you know, the ones with tons of hand-sewn pot-pouri dolls with lace fringes and all of that shit. It’s the lavender, I suppose. But if a saison that smells like latrine and horse-blanket can be a delight, so can a beer that smells like a tourist-trap-for-women-on-some-damn-island-somewhere. And a delight this one is. Lovely flavor, lots of interesting herbal goings-on, pleasingly dry, not so funky but that’s fine as long as one doesn’t come in with preconceptions, very nice on the tongue. It might be trying a bit too hard for unique character and novelty value -- I’d love to try a well-crafted saison flavored subtly at roughly 1/3 the current herbal intensity -- but it’s still a really fine beer.

Delighted to have tried this one!

Sample from a 750ml bottle. Clear gold body, still, with nearly no head. Nose is sweaty, floral hibiscus and stinging perfume... very forward and heavy with the soapy/perfume/floral character in the aroma. Texture is somewhat syrupy, flavors are very floral, soapy, etc., with a definite honey note in the middle, but it develops an unwelcome sharpness across the middle as well. Syrupy, oily honey in the finish. Interesting but I think I’m missing something here. Usually it’s easy for a bottle conditioned siason to get at least a 4/5 for appearance, but this looked like still apple juice, and it was from a bottle that probably saw a lot of movement during the day (festival pour). Something to rerate in the future, perhaps.

Bottle @ BCTC. Pours is hazy golden with a heavy white lace. Nose is heavily spiced with a little bit of pepper and belgian yeast. Flavor is slightly sweet and malty with more spice. Was a bit sweeter than I expected or like. A little bit of a letdown considering how much I love their other saisons.

Sample @ BCTC 2008. Very good saison. Aromas of floral, herbalness, i guess lavender. Taste is again herbal & floral, somewhat sweet, slightly spicy. enjoyable. Why cant they come to Buffalo??

pours medium hazy amber with a creamy, eggshell-white head. Surprisingly malty aroma of oranges, spices. I want to say there is alot of lavender in the nose but I’m not sure if I’m just inferring that from the description. Sweet, malty flavor, once again candied oranges, cinnamon, grass, and I guess flowers. Come to think of it, it really does taste like flowers, it’s no joke, it’s just sweeter than I thought it would be. Delicious and refreshing. Flavor lingers on for awhile, and really leaves me craving more of this wonderful, unique brew. I wish they would bottle and distribute more of this.

25.4 oz. bottle, consumed at the brewpub on 7-31-08, split with a friend. Pours an opaque, hazy, orange-ish dark gold with a moderate amount of cream-colored head. Aroma and flavor: Yeasty, briney, salty, spicy (cinnamon, paprika), and vegetal (pumpkin, zuchini), yet with a certain floral Belgian flare. Medium to full body. Oily in the palate. Cuvee des Fleur is a unique and awesome brew!