Brett Saison, what is it?

There is no Brett or "brett-y funk" in Saison Dupont IMHO.

 

Boulevard Saison Brett $14 /750ml

Victory Helios $4 /22 oz

To me they are practically the same beer and offer the same experience and flavor.

 

I've never had Saison Brett but I do enjoy Helios quite a bit especially for the price. I don't think there's any brett in it though.

 

Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And drink beer as you never drank beer before

 

There is. Not in the bottle though, filtered out.

See: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/06/harvesting-sour-beer-bottle-dregs.html

Are you sure about this, or are you being pedantic about "brewed"? Shaun has mentioned that all of their saisons now see time in oak - it would surprise me if they're not all inoculated with brett (as well as other cultures) this way.

 

I didn't realize that. I never thought it was a very bretty saison and they make no mention of it on their site.

 

The price seems reflective of how the two beers are received by the general beer-drinking populace--Saison-Brett has a 4.33 rating compared to Helios' rating of 3.84. Or maybe the price is influencing the rating...

 

To my taste buds Arthur and Anna with a bit of age are both tart and a bit sour, but don't taste at all brett-y to me. Whereas Edith and Arctic saison punch you in the face with the brett aroma and flavors. So to clarify, the beers I mentioned as containing brett specifically mention it in the ingredients on the label. The other saisons may contain it or other souring cultures/techniques, but it isn't called out specifically on the label, so I was just trying to draw a distinction between their brett forward saisons, and the others that develop some tartness/sourness over time.

They all may very well use brett at some point in the brewing process, like I said I don't know what their secret is. I shouldn't have been so definitive.

 

Shaun mentioned on the forums (I can't find the post, so maybe I'm making it up), that the difference in labels is a new/old label thing (I imagine this goes along with when all of the saisons started taking a dip in oak). I.e. (I can't confirm this, because I didn't get any of this last release), the new release of Anna (if it had the new labels) would have said Brett. I also thought he had once said definitely on the forums that all of the saisons/farmhouse ales had Brett in them - but I don't see that post, so perhaps I'm making that up.

 

You very well may be right. I have 1 Arthur from the new batch, I'll have a look at the label when I get home to confirm.

 

Pretty sure there was when I first discovered it. The first few bottles I had were wicked "farmy" tasting. Then those bottles got replaced with some more recent batches that were dated, and the farminess kind of went away, but it still has that musty/leather thing going on. I know its filtered now, and there is some disagreement on some homebrew forums if it still made with brett (or some yeast blend that contains brett). I don't really care to be honest with you, I just like it - just as much as I like Saison Brett, which I refuse to buy at retail because I know I get the same enjoyment out of Helios for about a third of the price.

 

One the previous page someone commented that Brett will give barnyard aromas and flavors to wine. It's a pretty good assesment but more specifically Brett will give wet cardboard flavors and aromas to wine. There are many grape varietals that can translate barnyard and wet moss, etc. (Carignan from Monstant, ESP and Cotes du Rousillon, FR for instance). All that said, there are those in the wine world that actually enjoy and prefer a small amount of Brett in their aged wines. For the vast majority of people in the wine world....Brett is a flaw.

Pea shout, y'all.

 

I really enjoy the offerings from Prairie. I had the Prairie Ale the other day and it was a brett smack unlike any other. I think I could still taste it the next day.

I have a bomber of Funky Galaxy in the fridge which I'm pretty exited about. I'm obviously hooked, I bought 4 bombers yesterday, without really meaning to I ended up with all saison, farmhouse, and/or brett.

 

Prairie really has there brett going well. So many brewers, crooked stave included, have issues with off flavors like blue cheese and bile, it was nice to check out a new brewery who didn't put out some green brett beers.