Southampton Saison Deluxe

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

750 ml bottle from beastiefan2k. Pour is hazy / cloudy yellow gold with a firm white head that lasted. Aroma of wheat bread, touch of sour, some sweet and finally some earthiness. Taste is very smooth and full bodied. Breadiness is there right away and a nice smooth, clean drinkable brightness. Some tart sourness to the finish. Thanks for this one Eugene, much enjoyed.

Bottle provided to me by Jeff (zathrus13) and enjoyed in my NB worthy glass. Mostly clean golden hue at first (2nd pour did have some yeast) with a fading head and okay lace. The aroma has notes of grassy and herbal hops, classic Dupont strain yeast vapours with the associated spicy notes, mineral water and a tad biscuity. Very much towards the style and very inviting. The taste is a bit grainy and bready therefore not as crisp as I hoped from the impression on the nose. The midsection is a tad bitter and displays some acidity. The finish is metallic and spicy like. The mouth feel is quite aggressive and sprite, burp! Very carbonated and a touch warming too. A good brew that falls just short of greatness. Still I found this better than some of the offerings on the past two years from Southampton.

Date: 11/04/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Bend Brewing

opaque dark yellow, pours with a huge dense white head, thick lace, spicy aroma with light orange and lemon, spicy malt flavor matches the aroma, long bitter finish

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3.1/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

750ml Halftime Beverage Southampton’s Saison Deluxe pours a slightly hazed straw yellow. Extremely light colored body. A massive white bubbly head formed on the pour. I had to quit pouring after half a glass because of the rapidly rising head. Carbonation bubbles stream to the head that eventually lays down to a thick cap. Definately looks good but the lacing just doesn’t want to stick. Aroma starts off with very pale malts, mostly biscuity. Over the top of the biscuity malts comes the aroma of a summer field and then a good sprinkling of spice. There is a drop or two of sweet orchard fruits (juicy ripe pear and peach) that run along the lines of a tripel. Mild alcohol spice toward the backend. Flavor is hand in hand with the aroma. This is walking the line between a tripel and saison. There’s an awful lot of ripe fruits in the flavor but there is some of that saison field grassiness. Ends with grassy hop character that flashes by. Very good. Body is on the light side of medium with a tongue prickling carbonation. The strong carbonation turns this beer frothy mid-palate. Not as dry as other styles but with all the fruitiness that’s not a problem. I’m having no problem at all finishing off this bottle. As a matter of fact it’s disappearing far too fast. Thirst quenching yet leaving you want another sip immediately. This is an interesting beer from Southampton and one I would without a doubt pick up again. Unique saison with the tripel characteristics make this a wonderful beer. 8/19/07

Batch 1 bottle (8/06) consumed on 6/26/07, about 10 months old
Well it was tough to hang on to this one (not really), but I finally opened it to still quite the bang and mountains of beige-specked white head that stubbornly yielded over time, though remained bountiful and laced particularly well. Tiny bubbles rising furious in the deep golden-brass liquid, with no haziness (well-settled after its rest and a careful pour).
I’ll just get this out of the way and say that I was disappointed. I like MartinT’s comment that it is "austere and lacking in personality or raw flavor." Couldnt agree more. SHPH’s first new saison in a LONG time and what’s really going on here? Even at 10 months, the malt is a little on the heavy side, very chewy, bready and nutty. What’s up with that? Not exactly a crisply attenuated, delicate honey-malt-based saison. Granted this is a "Deluxe" version, but no matter, it still needs better attenuation and less specialty malting.
The nose is probably my favorite part (aside from the appearance) with some vanilla, lemon and bits of toasted malt lingering and creating a fairly unique profile. Hoppiness, as expected, is low at this point, and that’s fine. But then the yeast. Definitely not crude/sloppy/dirty or anything like that, but neither is it particularly dainty/elegant or flavorful. Alcohol presence is minimal and there are no flaws. Aroma strength is medium to medium-high.
Very bready/doughy/chewy malts are accenuated by lemon cake-icing like sweetness and dry, nutty/floral hoppiness that dosent stand up to the malt. Some typical yeast phenols of pepper and licorice, but nothing jumps out and grabs me. Like I said, it needs much better attenuation and more clarity on the malts (which just seem to be too doughy/sticky/bready, as I keep mentioning). Carbonation is incredibly high, though fairly tight, leading to, possibly, a fuller-than-intended body. No alcohol, flaws noted. I’ve had Sly Fox Saison Vos bottles older than this that have simply blown this out of the water, so it definitely wasnt their problem.

First bottled release sampled on 8/3/07: Pours a hazy golden bronze with an airy, large spotty-lacing, pillowy white head. Aroma of fresh, grassy, earthy hops and some sweet biscuity Belgian malt. Body starts fairly full and lightly pale malty sweet with good doughy yeasty flavor and mouthfeel, balanced with a fresh, floral bitterness and a hint of lemon. Very true to style and enjoyable!

First bottling (late 2006): Dull yellow with a slight haze. Gentle pour yields a stiff stark-white head which boasts the consistency of meringue. Plentiful lacework. Chamomile, lemon, black pepper, honeydew, and zesty hops create a highly enticing bouquet. Delightfully phenolic with lactic whispers. Crisp and rambunctious effervescence. Snappy phenols immediately stimulate the palate before being caressed by creamy yeast and softly textured malt. Beautifully layered malts are cleanly extracted and poignant in their definition. Nutty yeast (pistachio) coats the tongue and enhances the hop bitterness. Alcohol lends warmth and augments both the dryness and peppery qualities, but doesn’t overly detract. All the while the grassy hops continue to exert their sharp yet refined bitterness. Crackery aspects deepen the sweeter honey-dotted straw tinges of the malt. Wonderfully structured for the most part, though the core reveals some slight flabbiness reminiscent of chamomile and baked apples. Finishes appetizingly dry, perfumey, and stiffly hoppy with lime, aniseed and herbal accents. Malt is mostly clean throughout, but the chalkiness begins to accentuate the graininess during the lingering stage. Although this is clearly inspired by Dupont (unspiced; vivaciously estery, hoppy and dry), it falls just short of reaching such glorious status because of the sweetness/flabbiness, subtle graininess and poorly concealed alcohol. Great rendition, though.

Smells and looks like a saison. Barnyard aroma is there, as if by custom. SIgnificant head on lighter colour body. The surprise is the hoppiness moderated by fainter spice. Tasted closer to an ESB. An entirely different saison than the regular saison, according to my notes.