Southampton Cuvee des Fleurs

Brewed by Southampton Publick House
Style: Saison
Southampton, New York USA

On tap at Barcade. Hazy golden color with a good size off white head. Very floral and herbal aroma with some tropical fruit in there as well. Flavor of oranges, bananas, flowers(don’t ask me what kinds because I’ve never eaten a flower, but this is how I figure they would taste) and black pepper. Very different and very good. I wish I hadn’t traded away my two bottles I had in my basement.

DL Day,Hampton tasting. Very light yellow but hazy. Nose was like standing in a field of dandlions.Nice but after tasting it I was thinking about dandelion wine instead. Some sourness to it but also seems a bit lost.

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-somewhe 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!

750mL bottle. Pours a hazy orange amber that clears up as it warms. The head is small but very bubbly and dissipates fairly quickly leaving no lacing. The smell is extremely unique and extremely floral with some definite spiciness thrown in there as well. The floral aroma was more than just hops - all kind of flowery smells. The taste is a sweeter version of the aroma with honey playing a major role alongside the floral tastes. Mouthfeel is creamy and smooth with decent carbonation with a lingering syrupy sweetness in the finish. This is my first Southampton brew and I’m impressed with both the uniqueness and the quality of this one.

C-bus 7. This was one of the highlights of the evening for me. Aroma of spices, honey, and flowers--no suprise there...Golden in color with a big, fluffy head. Medium palate. The taste starts out with some sweet, very light honey tastes that are held up by the floral aspects which seem to change throughout. Very intriguing brew that I would love to revisit soon.

2005 vintage. This consumer-friendly bottle saw fit to uncork itself after I removed the wire lid, projecting its stopper into my kitchen ceiling. Poured an extremely effervescent golden with a huge fizzy/frothy white head. Extremely difficult to pour without getting head everywhere. Aroma is a complex yet bizarre mix. I get wafts of honey, lemon zest, grass... I don’t want to say "floral" given the product description, as that might come across as a tad simplistic, but the sweet mustiness of the aroma is quite reminiscent of sticking your nose into a powerful garden flower. Potent and complex but I’m not crazy about some of the edgy mustiness. Flavor follows from the aroma, as I got a predominantly sweet flavor mixed with herbal honey, perhaps a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, some grassiness, wtih the alcohol becoming more prevalent as the mouthful progresses, leading to a rather dry finish. The same mustiness that makes the aroma complex yet confusing arises in the flavor. Body is light and effervesces quickly in the mouth, but without the carbonated liveliness I usually look forward to in this style. Overall, I’d say it is quite complex and potent, but I’m not sure I found the musty floral qualities to be all that accentuating. For the record, I’ll state that I’m not the hugest fan of wildflower aromas, so that mild distaste might have leaked into my rating. Certainly by no means a bad saison... I just thought that the floral gimmick kept it just above decent.

RERATE: Gave the beer another chance, and I’m glad I did. Sampled about ten degrees farenheit warmer than last night. The aroma seems somewhat more pleasant, as the mustiness has faded a bit without losing the floral essences. The flavor feels a bit drier and much more drinkable. The body has a bit more bite to the carbonation. Ok, this has elevated in my eyes from a just decent saison to quite good.

Bottle shared by theisti at his tasting 10/12. Pours a hazy gold with a thin white head and soap bubble lacing. My pour, which came from the last third of the bottle was much darker than the first two-thirds. The aroma is very nice: sour, peppery, floral, sweet and citric. There are more olfactory notes coming at me than I can adequately distinguish or detail here. The palate is medium-bodied and slick with a finish that is clean and dry at the swallow. Honey-like sweetness up front with notes of citrus, white pepper, yeast and flowers. This is a very tasty beer and is one that I will be looking for in the future.

Bottle thanks to hopdog. Pours a very pretty, hazy golden-yellow. Fizzy head. Nose is quite floral, both from flowers and hops. I do get some of the chamomile notes, a touch spicy and a little bit of acidity and funk. Taste is much of the same, very soft and floral. Super light beer for the abv and clean. I could drink a ton of this. Nice acidity that helps with the floral notes. Fantastic.