Poivre Noir
Pipeworks Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A- pours a dark brown color with reddish maroon tints. A 2 finger light beige head formed with decent lacing.

S- you can smell the citrus right away. The pepper spice follow right behind. There's a boozy scent that just strikes me as odd for a Saison, but not in a bad way

T- lemon and peppercorn right away. The expected Saison funk balances it immediately. I'm getting an almost dark fruit taste. There's a boozy kick to it that I certainly didn't expect.

M- medium mouthfeel with wonderful carbonation. A medium and nicely dry finish

O- this is probably the oddest Saison I've ever had. But it was well balanced and much tastier than I expected .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22oz. bomber into a Cantillon tulip. I'm really starting to like the saison style and I love lemon notes in beer but I can't stand pepper flavors so this should be interesting.

Pours a massive, foamy 3 finger brownish grey head with good retention. Beer is a dark, clear black. Lacing is stringy and stick with good stick. A great looking beer.

Nose is exactly as advertised. Notes of lemon peel, coriander, pepper and a dark fruit sweetness. Nice. Aromatic too.

Opens peppery with some acetone, coriander, lemon rind and plum sweetness. Boozy as heck. Ethanol hits me hard from the get-go and covers up the subtle spices that desperately try to fight their way to the front. Some lemon acidity at the finish. Sweet plum and some peppery notes in the aftertaste. Too much ethanol in this.

Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation. Oily, slick and boozy in the mouth and goes down hot and abrasive. Boozy finish with a long, lingering alcoholic aftertaste. Too much for the style.

There's a lot of subtleties in this beer but I feel like the odd, overwhelming ethanol presence covers up everything else. The dark fruit and lemon flavors are apparent but as I go from sip to sip, I almost feel like I just had a lemon jello shot. Not my idea of what a beer in a very subtle, complex style should be. The potential is there but there's just waaay too much booziness.