Propolis
Brasserie Dunham

 

Bright straw color with moderate activity. Gets more hazy and cloudy as more yeast poured. Foamy white 2 finger head, lasting around 5 minutes, with good legs and swirl reaction. Flavors of wheat, sweet barley, lemon, light grapefruits, brett yeast, honey, peppercorn, and floral hops. Slick and fluffy medium body with a good sharp crisp. Light to medium strength finish, mostly a flowery and straw feel, with a balanced soft barnyard effect. Slightly sour and dry with a bit of cheese. Well attenuated and highly fresh. General sensation is a well done table Saison of low intensity and subtly spiced, similar to a Sofie. Great balance and nice complexity. Overall high quality craft.

 

750ml bottle - a Saison made with oats, rye, honey, and spices. You know, just for kicks.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with three fat-ass fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and yet fizzy off-white head, which leaves some streaky land bridge lace around the glass as it quickly dissipates.

It smells of gritty and grainy pale malt, a bit of peppery rye, weak clover honey notes, further indistinct spices, a touch of phenolic yeastiness, and some very tame earthy, weedy, and dead floral noble hops. The taste is grainy and bready pale malt, wet wheat crackers, a bit of muddled tropical fruitiness, ephemeral yeast, equally hard to pin down generic honey, faint mixed table-top spices, and a bit of meek leafy, earthy, and musty 'verdant' hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly active in its palate-tugging frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, with but a subtle yeasty incursion making a minor dent in the new paint job here, as such. It finishes trending dry, the mixed graininess petering out, and the lingering spice and yeasty essences picking up the slack.

Overall, this is a rather well-rendered version of the style, with none of the guests really overstepping their bounds. Easy to drink, duly balanced, and a pleasant offering to while away the rest of this fragrant near-summer evening. Yeah, June is my favourite month, 'apropos' of nothing #sorrynotsorry.

 

 

 

Pours a golden hue with white head. I think this bottle gushed a little bit. Some aroma of Belgian yeast and some sweetness. This is a really smooth, biere de miele. It is smooth and pretty dry with a light amount of sweetness from the honey and yeast character. Solid but nothing special. I'd drink this again.

 

On tap at the Farmhouse. Very cleqr. Brief head. Smell is pilsner malt, light phenolic yeast. Taste is also bland. A bit of bubble gum. Some maltiness and a bit of fruitiness. Medium low carbonation. It’s really blah.

Poured into a Stone Brewery flute. Pours a hazy, light yellow-golden amber with a two finger white head with good retention and lots of lacing. Aroma of saison yeast, brett, light lemon citrus, apple and pear, light biscuit malt, hint of honey. Flavor is nice grain forward light biscuit, lemon citrus, light rye flavor and mild tartness, light peppery spice, coriander, light honey. Light to medium bodied with nice peppery carbonation. A very nicely made rustic ale with a deft touch of honey and brett. Surprisingly flavorful for the light ABV, tasted like a much bigger ale. This is what I hope for in a farmhouse ale, flavorful with spicing and brett handled lightly. Quite enjoyable. Hope to see more from this Quebec brewery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A:
Pours a slightly hazy brilliant straw with half a glass’ head that airily lowers down, soap-like till it becomes a topo map of sudsy islands. Great retention; glacial patches of lacing. (4.75)

S:
Spiced fresh-baked bread. Dough, honey, vanilla, pepper, baking spices. (4)

T:
Bubbly, soft and slightly tart. Bread, rubber, rum, lemon rind, coriander, soap. (3.75)

M:
Tingly and tremendously carbonated. Light-medium bodied, very smooth with a tingly finish and a very dry hop presence. (3.75)

O:
Tasty take on a saison.
This is a fairly solid beer in my opinion because it seems to just be a salad of different ingredients (wheat, malt, rye, hops, honey, yeast, spices) but tastes pretty straightforward. It is neither a mush of flavor nor a ‘boring-tasting’ beer.
Pours beautifully and the rest is pretty good as well. Smells and tastes very much like a hefeweizen to me. And, indeed, I feel like it tastes that way too. But I figure that with wheat, and rye and the ‘rest’ it is just more hefty than something like saison dupont or any of the LaChouape ones.
Might have again; worth a shot. (4)

 

 

 

A: Amazing look on this beer. Pours a hazy light hay color with amazing pure white head with impressive retention and lacing.

S: Everything you would want in a saison. A strong, tarty, slightly sweet and grainy, a bit of funk in the nose. You get hay, buckwheat, light honey, pepper and lemon. All blends very well with strong synergy.

T: Follows the nose really well. Only problem is that the overall taste isn't as strong as expected. Still, the complexity is still there and very nice. Only thing I would add is a kind of green apple tartness and a tad presence of herbal hops.

M: Very nice and light, but just a tad bit sticky and stingy. Overall, very good.

O: It's a really really good saison. Extremely drinkable and full of nice funk that isn't usually present in Quebec-made beers of the style. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

Appearance: It has a nice hazy pale yellow color to it. It has a nice thick white head that dies down moderately and leaves some nice lacing.

Smell: The aromas definitely give out hints of grainy malts, sweet honey, peppery spices and Saison yeast.

Taste: Like the aromas, it has some peppery yeast upfront, some sweet honey, wheat, some grainy malt and faint grass.

Mouthfeel: It has a med/high carbonation with a nice overall balance and feel.

Drinkability: It's a very smooth drinkable beer accompanied with good flavors and aromas.

 

Bottle: Poured a hazy dirty yellow color ale with a large foamy head with great retention and some good lacing. Aroma consists of peppery yeast with some rustic malt and lightly sweet notes. Taste is also a superb mix of peppery yeast with some rustic malt notes and lightly sweet honey notes that are also perceptible. Rye malt are also noticeable and provide a bit of spicy/peppery notes. Body is full with medium carbonation. Incredibly well brewed with great level of drinkability.

Thanks to Hoppypocket for the trade
A: Clear pale golden capped with a massive 5 finger white sudsy head on the pour and holds on to a solid foam cap rim to rim.

S: Grainy and yeasty with the pleasant sweet hay smell typical of a saison. Honey scent permeates the scent start to finish with a spice pepper note.

T: Grains and wheat are forward with a mild honey or pale malts sweetness. Slightly soapy flavour that lingers in the mouth.

M: Carbonation pops on the tongue right away, then settles down quickly. Notable how the wheat & grain flavours hold onto the palette well after the sip. Very refreshing without too much sweetness despite the added honey.

O: An enjoyable easy drinking beer that's clean and refreshing.