La Petite Princesse
Brasserie Thiriez

Aroma is Belgian yeast/hint of black pepper and medium citrus. The flavor is fruit, malts, light citrus and a spicy Belgian yeast/black pepper finish.

Pale yellow and hazy. Sudsy thick head.
Smells spicy and yeasty.
The taste follows. Peppery, plenty of ester character, a little sour soapy note but nothing unpleasant. The taste remains very light. The feel is watery, but that’s understandable for such a light beer

A- A nice light yellow color with a no head and lacing.

S- A very peppery yeast scent.

T- The taste follows the with a peppery taste and a nice character.

M- A light sour taste decently carbonated an enjoyable beer.

O- A good Saison

In draft at Novare Rez

 

Perfect beer. Reviewing from memory. Sad that the Wine Source in Baltimore seems to have stopped carrying this.

tl;dr: A tiny little, remarkably flavorful, hoppy saison.

Look: Pale straw; I don’t remember whether clear or cloudy; impressive Belgian (well, French) head that punches well above its class.

Smell/flavor: I combine these when reviewing from memory. Great peppery saison yeast flavors, plus substantial European hop aromas. Purists might say it’s been tragically Americanized, but I love it. Still, not a closet IPA.

Feel: Light-bodied but by no means watery. Effervescent. Bit of hop pucker. Lovely. You won’t mistake it for a 6.5% beer, but that’s not a bad thing!

Overall: The world needs more tiny beers, and this one excels. Drink it on a Tuesday afternoon when the workday isn’t quite over but the weather is too perfect not to have a beer on the porch. Drink it on a Saturday evening with a homemade meal you spent a week planning. Etc. If I had to choose one beer for the rest of my life, this would be a strong contender.

When you want to scream in excitement, La Petite whispers. When you want the feeling of gentle touch, La Petite hammers away. At 2.9% abv, my this beer is gloriously complex like Dorothy Parker after her third martini. La Petite shows up to the party, doesn’t say hello, but everyone still knows she’s there.

Muddy orange. Not a good appearance.
A lot of bretta in the smell.
Light taste, again bretta.
Thirst quenching, hop bitterness in the back, some spiciness.
Drinkable, no more.

Have I seen before this little Princess' eyes on a Jester King label? (JK's graphic artist probably played a role in this collab.)

Bought from The Beer Temple (good for Thiriez) and poured into a Walloonian chalice. I might buy another Princesse.
Only my 5th from Thiriez and only my 11th from JK, I rated all their brews less than half of their BA average.
But, I give high marks here masters should collaborate and because this is a gentle table ale and went well with a medley of appetizers.

The stand-out feature is the soft mouth, unusual for saisons. I also appreciate the yeast. I wish many more North American Belgian-inspired brewers had this yeast, active and textured.

 

 

 

 

11.2oz bottle poured into a tulip glass.

Appearance: medium Golden yellow bodied beer with massive bone white head. Aggressive pour leads to a huge frothy and soap suds like head. Thick lacing everywhere. The head has

Smell: Hay malt profile. Herbal, citrusy, earthy, and dank hops.

Taste: Wet hay with initially lemon driven hops with a nice earthy character as well. Other hop flavors include hints of: herbal, grassy, floral, & dank hops. Hint of peppery yeast. Dank bitterness builds into a fairly bitter finish. Very complex saison, but the bitter finish killed it for me. If the bitterness was a tad more restrained this would have been crazy good saison.

Mouthfeel: Very light bodied saison. Moderate carbonation. Creamy & soft bodied beer. Clean & snappy finish.

Overall: This is what I would expect from Thiriez table saison; a lot of the hoppiness that embodies most saison from Thiriez. Though I will say that the mouthfeel / texture of this saison is really incredible and worth dealing with the extra bitterness in the flavor for how awesome the texture is.

 

 

 

On tap at Novare