Imperial Koji Saison
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From a tasting a ways back from nothe....clear copper, coconut and candied orange peel, rice crispies tastes more rice in the mouth, hard to place spice, sake yeast comes out later, leaning towards full, just enough carbonation to give it some life
Something different anyways...

500ml. Have had it for a few months but was kind of wary about popping it -- half-litre, 14%, "imperial saison", sake yeast. Bit of a gusher when opened but then pours with barely any head, a hazy swampy looking light-brown/amber beer. Brings a rather bizarre and astringent plethora of flavors to the table: honey, candy corn, grapes, candied citrus, sake, booze, earthy tones. Really not much to speak of as far as a saison goes, it's just kind of a mess of sweetness, sake and alcohol. Low-carbonated/pretty meh mouthfeel. Not the worst but definitely a tough one to sip on, sweetness/alcohol/a weak body drag this one down quite a bit. Boundary-pushing is good but a 14% saison? Tough to swallow (literally) and any hint of the style is kind of out the window.

 

500ml bottle - a collaborative effort with a Chinese brewery, whose name (Jing-A) is rendered in Mandarin script on the front label.

This beer pours a hazy, medium copper amber colour, with one finger of rather fizzy ecru head, which sits around for a minute or so, before suddenly just up and bailing, and leaving nothing in the way of lace for later appreciation. Lots of continuing effervescence, though, so very Saison-esque, for starters (that's called foreshadowing, kiddos!).

It smells of semi-sweet, almost sugary caramel malt, yuk-a-flux level orange peel, slightly musty mirror-world yeast, further muddled pale orchard fruit, and a small earthy, leafy, and herbal green hoppiness. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, warm toffee, earthy rice pudding, still hot (in a boozy sense) to trot citrus notes, a pungent musty yeast character, and more sozzled leafy, weedy, and herbal green hop bitters.

The carbonation is fairly timid in its hard to really get a gauge on frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and not particularly smooth - maybe have a talk with the yeast or booze if you really want to know why not. It finishes sweet, but in a strangely non-North American manner - more rice and alcohol affectation, to absolutely no one's surprise.

Well, not much of the original style's (Saison, for those playing along) attributes really come through in this gang-bang of a brew. Very hard to even sip at, as the alcohol is barely integrated, and sorry, that creepy-ass Asian yeast (I'm looking at you, Baird and Hitachino Nest) only makes things worse. Not good.