La Moneuse
Brasserie de Blaugies

 

I just love the look. It looks like muddy marsh water and I love it. Medium to heavy carbonation. Large head. The first taste almost tasted like the iron taste when you taste blood. Then I didn’t get it again. I actually get a little tropical fruit like pineapple. It was just a bit off though. Rough around the edges and a little too carbonated for my tastes.

Darker reddish-brown than most of their other saisons, under a yet still white, super pockmarked foam head.

A couple percentage points higher than their other beers I've recently had, it's simultaneously less yeasty yet barely more malty. It delivers a very mild expression of graham or toffee biscuit with a little candied cashew that comes near caramel but in pleasantly subtle way. A hint of floral bitterness comes out after a sort of warming baked apple crops up.

 

 

The walls of the bottle had large patches of yeasty sediment adhering to them. I therefore thought there would be large bits of sediment suspended in the poured ale. Instead I found only a hazy red-orange beer under a towering and lasting head.

The nose was more horse stable than farmhouse. I should say a well-mucked stable, as the smell was only the pleasant aromas of leather, hay, and disturbed earth.

The taste has some malt and grassiness, but the main flavors are firm Bosc pear and sweet-tart apple (I am reminded of the Pinova apples that recently graced the produce department of my favorite grocer for the first time).

Mouthfeel is full, with the sharp carbonation adding to the tart elements of the flavor.

This is the closest I have come to finding a homemade Saison on a store shelf. It is too dear to drink regularly, but ideal as a Christmas seasonal indulgence. If you want a real farmhouse ale (or garage ale in the case of Brasserie de Blaugies), this is exemplary.

What an interesting beer! I tried it in comparison to a Saison I’d made myself. So it was more research than anything. The appearance was orange with a very full bubbly look. aroma seemed neutral at first, but with a slight apple in it. The mouthfeel felt full, but in a way that Champagne does. The flavour was incredible, a slight wine, giving way to an drey apple flavour. I’m definitely going to try this again. As for my version, it was nice but needs more work next time

12.7oz green bottle. Corked and caged. Stamp on cage cap is 'U2-05:21'.
Dirty brown orange colored body. Some foam over when the cork is removed. White head is continuously rebuilt by rising bubbles. Leaves behind some strings of lacing on the drinking side of the glass.
Aroma of yeast - leather and tobacco, fruit - peach and pear, and malt.
Taste is spicy from the yeast, with esters of peach and pear. Darker bread malts. Grassy, with some hay.
Thicker mouth feel, solid texture. Drying finish. Excellent carbonation.
No real sweetness nor bitterness but complex and full of flavors. Perfect for a working person's lunch drink. Musty and spicy at the same time.

375ml bottle from Wee Vault, Edinburgh (£7.50):
Amber with some orange tinges & a 2.5cm, foamy white head that looks thick & wavy, holding well with a lot of visible carbonation through the body & a few large bits of sediment at the bottom. Lots of yeast & peppery spices on the nose with a malty base, fruity esters & less tart than expected. It's well balanced with bread malts, a little more spice & tart with the taste, a little apple & the same yeasty finish from the nose. Dry, well carbonated & definitely not as pronounced most saison but not bad.

 

 

I had this on draft 2/1/23 @ the Hopleaf.

Mostly opaque dark orange appearance.

Nice eggshell head; decent lace.

Pear, apple, mild ash & faint caramel notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Fresh pear, some volcanic ash & faint caramel flavors.

Refreshing but substantial. Nice.

 

 

 

Pours clear light amber color with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has fruit and malt hints
The taste follows the nose with a fruity malt flavor
A medium bodied well carbonated beer
A good Saison

 

Very impressive saison, the Clarity is was got me.

I enjoyed the pepper finish, considering this brew to be a fine pairing with . .

375 mL cork and cage bottle from the LCBO; best before Dec 31 2024 and served at cellar temperature.

Pours a clear golden-orange colour with fine sediment visible throughout the body; gathered atop is roughly one finger of loose, soapy white head that settles off quickly. Pouring in the dregs (later in the session) makes it a downright murky, muddy brownish-amber. A bubbly collar is left encircling a patchy, filmy cap, with a small amount of lace tossed about in the process. It smells wholesome: whole grain bread, doughy malts and graininess, with hints of grassy hay, earthy hops, grapes and orchard fruit. There's also some mildly peppery yeast spiciness, as well as a whiff of ethanol.

Tastes quite nice - fruity notes abound on the front end, with bruised apple, apricot, grape and apple juice coming through amidst a grainy, bready malt backbone. Later on come hints of floral hops, citrus zest, grassy hay & barnyard, with peppery yeast spiciness and earthiness rounding out the back end; lingering hints of apple, earthy hops and citrus precede an off-dry aftertaste, with surprisingly little sign of that 8%. Medium in body, moderately carbonated; this one just felt a little watery to me, and the carbonation exhausted itself very quickly. Dangerously drinkable.

Final Grade: 4.04, an A-. I don't think I've reviewed an actual, honest to goodness Belgian-brewed saison such as La Moneuse for years now! Lemme check... yep, late 2016 (Avec les Bons Voeux, for the record). This style was very popular amongst North American brewers for a while, but seems to have fallen out of vogue, at least here in Ontario. I found this to be a relatively fruit (ester)-forward saison - well-brewed, and its flavours are definitely appealing, but I wouldn't put this on the same level as Dupont. Hope to see this around here again.