Winter Pepper
Brasserie Thiriez

 

 

so excited to find a new to me beer from these guys, i have been so impressed with their stuff in limited exposure, and jumped when i saw this, a tiny little bottle, beautifully packaged, understated, but a really exciting recipe, and amber saison base that sort of presents like a biere de garde, done with three different types of pepper, more peppercorn than chili pepper to the nose and taste, which i believe is what these peppers used in here are, three different origins, very cool! gorgeous pour, middle amber to copper color with three inches or more of airy khaki belgian looking bottle conditioned foam, epic! light sediment ring in the very bottom of the bottle but otherwise pretty clear, robust carbonation. the aroma is crazy, my favorite feature of this, fresh ground and spicy black pepper, just milled and pretty intense, earthy and musky with some umami, amazing with the slightly richer malt profile this has, and the spice esters from the ferment, this yeast is familiar from other beers they make, white pepper there, subtle clove and coriander seed to me too, drier than beer this color usually is, hay and straw, light funk but not bretty, wonderfully interesting and distinctive without being overloaded or out of balance with the pepper. the flavor is exceptional too and the black pepper kick is there the whole way, married into the base beer so well, which would be excellent on its own im sure. the ferment is amazing and its killer with the pepper, there is some bitterness and late spice here, some linger, but its dry, creamy feeling, and fully effervescent. there is a light almost szechuan tingle on the tongue after each sip that fades slowly, some textural richness to this too, just amazingly interesting and well refined. a little unexpected, but it shouldnt be i suppose. delicious and of high culinary interest, loved it!

 

Poured into a Reuben's Brew small snifter. Pours a hazy, medium orange with a fine, one finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of Belgian pale malt and yeast, apple, pear, orange and black pepper; interesting. Poured into a Reuben's Brew small snifter. Flavor is mildly sweet pale malt, Belgian yeast, light stone fruit, particularly peach, pear, fig, a touch of spicy black pepper; light black pepper bite in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess and nice mouth feel. Quite the interesting ale. The base ale is similar to a pale ale with some dubbel sweetness. When I picked this up I thought it would be a green (bell) pepper influence, but as the label illustration and pepper list states, this is brewed with three different black pepper types. There is clear, but light pepper flavor throughout, but the finish releases very nice freshly cracked pepper taste. The pepper is deftly handled. Uncategorizable; not sure pepper is a winter warmer spice, but its probably as good as anything; it's not quite a traditional Belgian pale ale either.Very enjoyable and well brewed.

This is quite a gem! I was intrigued by what seemed to be a winter warmer with a pepper twist.

A dark gold near amber color starts the show. The aroma is decisively yet elegantly fig/prune focused, which was in line with the look.

The taste, surprisingly, is not heavy on super sweet malts and alcohol like many winter brews. It is deceptively smooth. It starts out with a honey and fig like saison touch. And then the peppers gently let themselves in and dance on your palate and taste buds, ever so lightly on their peppery little toe tips.

That elegant peppery heat lingers for quite some time. I believe I'll have another beer!

WORTHY!