La Safranaise
Brasserie Artisanale Millevertus De Toernich

 

 

 

A: Golden orange with little haze but mostly clear and almost shiny, a little champagne like bubbles, and 2 fingers of off white head.



S: Honey, biscuit, Belgian yeasts, saffron but its more like a flower petal quality that almost comes across as metallic until you realize yes it really is saffron.



T: Belgian yeast, saffron, honey, bitter hops finish after the biscuit. An earthy herbal quality due to the saffron.



M: Medium almost sticky body, light carbonation.



O: I love anything unique, and this one does it. Saffron does come through in this Belgian pale ale. Got and drank in Kunming, China, April 26th, 2015.

Color gold, honey, intense hazy. White head but weak, small.
Flavor: honey, strong, sweet tea, sweet. At the finish touch of bitterness, short but very intense.

 

 

Pours cloudy amber, big foam, nice retention. Tiny bits floating around.
Strong sweet floral smell, bubblegum, hops, sweet citrus, caramel, orchard and exotic fruit. Should be tasty, i don't mind these "soapy beers", like the Schneider TAP 5.
Lots of stuff going on. Big citrus, with oranges, limes and big grapefruit in the finish especially. Peaches/nectarines, strawberries and tropical fruit also, with passion fruit and pineapple, tho a bit fainter. Low pale malts. Big floral component, a bit too perfumey. Some classic Belgian spiciness, with ginger root and white pepper too. Huge bitterness in the finish with big green hops. This makes me all it a Belgian IPA.
There's quite a lot of carbonation, creating a fizz that makes you think of detergent (given the floral-fruity taste), and the saffron lingers in the aftertaste. Adding the bitterness (and the warm alcohol), it does remind of perfume being sprayed in your mouth, a bit unpleasant later on.
Interesting enough to try, but not as balanced as they advertise it to be. If strong (ok, very strong) new/uncommon aromas are not something you like in your beer, this would be hard to rate. I actually liked it.

 

Bottle bought 4-5 months ago, poured into a tulip glass. Attractively amber colored and thick-looking with sediment swirling around an streams of fine bubbles in slow motion. Distinctly yellow flecks in the sediment on top of scrim of head with a few large bubbles. Exotic flower and spice smells -- am I falling for the label? -- that read as a bit soapy. Also some apricot, strawberry, caramel, a subtle cream-soda thing. But not strong. I like it but it's not conforming to any style. Spicy and hoppy flavor, as hoped of a good blonde. The saffron comes in as a subtle and secondary note, a bit of savoriness for balance rather than as a centerpiece. Oddly, the malt comes in a bit later, a root beery sweetness more of herbs than fruit. Quite a lot of body and chewy in the mouth, coating and effervescent at the same time. Unusual, a but exotic, it would be hard to say in a blind test 'aha that's saffron,' but you would say, 'there's something good and different there.'