Saison Du Portland
BJ's Restaurants & Brewery

750 ml bottle purchased at Belmont Station in Portland, OR last July during a visit to the 2007 Oregon Brewers Festival. Hand-written notation on the label indicates this is Bottle #441. Enjoyed in a Piraat tulip glass.

Appearance:
Beautiful golden color, slightly hazy. Sticks to the glass and leaves good lacing. Though the rich head of foam dissipates quickly, it returns readily with a swirl of the glass.

Smell:
Strong, dry white wine funkiness up front, followed by orange juice, bread dough, spices (cloves and peppercorns), and some alcohol in the finish.

Taste:
Wow, quite a bit sweeter than I was expecting. A bit too sweet for me, actually-- reminds me a lot of white grape juice. Much less funk than the nose suggests. Beautiful transition from fruity to spicy, with hops putting a word in at the start of a long dry finish. I wish this beer started less sweet, or at least dried out sooner, or maybe had some tartness or earthiness to balance out the initial sweetness.

Mouthfeel:
Gorgeous. My favorite aspect of this beer. Round, medium-bodied, and luxurious, lightened by soft but lively carbonation.

Drinkability:
Plusses for the mouthfeel, the dry finish, and the low-but-enjoyable level of funk. Minuses for being too sweet up front. A very good beer, but not one I expect to miss that much (given that it is a "retired" beer).

Bottle #442. They really went all out with the packaging, a convex bottomed champange bottle with a cork, crown cap and thin burgandy wax seal. In spite of all that, the inside of my cap had mold spots that smelled like vinegar, and top of the cork was partially soaked, and it crumbled one opening. Luckily a plug stayed in that protected the beer, which I delicate removed with a second pass of the corkscrew, and managed to keep cork crumbs out of the bottle...

I feared it may have been a wasted effort as I poured this into my antique Vieille Villers Triple glass, which is an oversized tulip. The color is an clear golden with a 2 finger white frothy head that leaves scattered, foamy lace.

Luckily, the moderate aroma bears no trace of the vinegar, and is actually more reminicent of a witbier then a saison to me, light spices, mainly clove and some citrus, with a slight tang of wheat sourness I like my witbiers. As for saison aromas, I'm not really find any barnyard funk either, although it's floral and seems a bit spritzy, it lacks any barnyard funk. Overall pretty good, but a little thick.

The taste is really pretty good, tasty and refreshing for sure, with some character, that I can't really place. When I can clearly identify the spices, then there's probably to much, which wasn't isn't the case here. A nicely balanced blend of spices, hops and yeast, I'm not really sure which specifically, presumably the usual suspects for the style, they're overall pretty subtle save for the spicy aftertaste. Not as thick as the smell, there's initially a soft sweetness, fading to a slightly astringent, grainy bitterness before the lingering spicy dry finish. Overall it's pretty smooth, with no trace of the ABV, and their efforts bottle conditioning this (as cited on the label) are certainly appreciated. This is really rather well done, and personally prefer more funk and less citrus in my saisons, I'm just spilting hairs. Tasty for sure.

The mouthfeel has a soft carbonation, and is very light bodied without being watery, although it gets a little heavy on the tongue.

This starts out light and refreshing and really goes down easily, but after awhile the spicy aftertaste builds up a bit to much on my tongue. Honestly, it's pretty neglidgible, and really just slowed me down enough to savor this fine saison. Pretty interesting, and better then most US attempts at the style, but like almost all of those, lacking any bacteria. So for me, not a must try or something I'll buy up the stock of (from belmont station, where I got this) to cellar, but I really enjoyed it. As I find myself really milking these last few sips, I'm thinking I might buy one more!

750 m,l heavy duty, bottle. Funky aroma reminds me of taking a whiff of a jar of green olives followed by s hint of clove and tangerines. Aroma transitions nicely into the flavor with a subdued green olive thing and the above mentioned spices. Finishes slightly sweet for me but a very good effort, definitely a unique saison.

Good to see BJ's is giving Alex the freedom to put his Belgian expertise to use. How he convinced them to let him bottle it, I'll never know, but it's pretty sweet.
Presented in a corked, capped, and waxed 750ml bottle with a nice picture of the Hawthorne Bridge. I got bottle #243. Pours a beautiful opaque golden color, topped by a pretty, creamy stark white head that leaves a creamy film around the glass as it descends. Aroma of light sweet malt, a little confectioner's sugar, and lightly spicy Belgian yeast with notes of allspice. Palate is very nice - a light malty sweetness, mixed with confectioner's sugar and some lightly fruity hops. Something akin to apple pie spice comes through near the finish, with the subtle bitterness from the hops emerging for the aftertaste. Body is just about perfect - velvety smooth and creamy, with a light finish. Exceptionally drinkable, and the alcohol is well-hidden to boot. Great job, Alex!

Bottle # 85 Waxed, crown capped and corked 750ml. 10/2006

Cloudy golden color with a big white head. Looks great.

Smells like I expect. Belgian esters and citrus.

Sweet and creamy. A touch of OJ. Very well balanced. Immediate finish isn't quite as dry as I expect, but it has a very long finish which dries out 30 seconds or so after you swallow. Damn tasty.

Lots of CO2 turns the well attenuated body into creamy goodness. Fantastic mouthfeel.

8%. A sipper, but wonderfully refreshing. Great sip after sip. I will not have a problem with this 750.

Great American saison. Very clean yeast profile. I would like more barnyard flavors. Best I have had since Hennepin. Certainly the best I have had on the West Coast.