The 750 Saison

Brasserie a Vapeur - Saison de Pipaix

I knew the odds were against me with picking this bottle up. This is when beer shopping feels a little like antiquing. There aren't a lot of bottles of this out there. I was going to include this one no matter what. There's too much quirky history here and it deserved a chance.

The brewery building dates back to around 1890. It used to be the Biset-Cuvelier brewery. The recipe for Saison de Pipaix supposedly dates back to 1785. In 1895, the brewery was modernized and outfitted with a steam engine. In 1914, the occupying German military attempted to take the steam engine for its metal, but they failed to do this for whatever reason. Brasserie a Vapeur translates to steam brewery.

Here's a video of some equipment in action:



Around 1985, the brewery was purchased by history teacher Jean-Louis Dits who wanted to preserve it. He was tutored by Marc Rosier from Dupont.

The importer, B. United claims that this is the only brewery in Europe that still uses steam powered equipment. I'm not sure if that's exactly true. Hook Norton's steam system dates back to the same era, but to be fair, I don't know if they really put it to much practical use anymore... but maybe I'm wrong. @herrburgess , I remember you posting a pic from a Franconian brewery that used long belts. Was that steam driven?

Saison de Pipaix is known to have some iron in its taste. This used to come from the old brewing equipment, but today, the iron taste just comes from the water... and it's reportedly much more subtle now. It's considered one of the archetypes of the modern spiced saison. Black pepper, orange, ginger, star anise, and lichen are all used in the beer.

So, how was my bottle? It gushed and gushed. (We're in sync @utopiajane ) I did manage to salvage some drinkable beer though. It was quite sour. I've had this beer before and I didn't remember it being this sour, so afterwards, I checked Phil Markowski's notes on the beer. He described it as having a "dryish sour backdrop" and also claimed that it had a lactic sourness especially when aged in the bottle over time. Both of these notions fit my beer. "Dryish sour" is a great fit, but in my case it was no longer a backdrop. It obscured all else. The spices were not detectable (but they also might be subtle in the fresh beer). I wasn't thinking of iron either, but I wasn't looking for it, and if I was, I don't know if I could recognize it. There was a woody quality that came through though. What was really surprising, was that the beer actually reminded me of Rodenbach. I still enjoyed this beer and found it quite drinkable despite the circumstances.

Check out how beautiful that bottle shape is... with that skinny neck. Any attractiveness of the bottle was quickly subverted by the nasty sludge that was under the bottle cap. It's the beer equivalent of looking at the dirty critters under a pretty rock.

 

Regarding Sorachi Ace, I've had bad luck with this beer. First time I had it, I suspected dirty lines. Second time I had it, it had a very unpleasant chalkiness. I've also gotten the same chalkiness in bottles of Brooklyn's 1/2 Ale. Given the respect this beer gets, I'll have to give it another shot. Third time's a charm.

 

Yeah, it is. I think it deserves more attention.

 

That's a fantastic thought. Did you find the beer to be dry? If so, would you guess that it was inherently dry, or would you guess that the brett dried it out?

 

Brasserie Artisanale de Rulles - Estivale

This beer is listed here as a Belgian Pale Ale and not a saison. The line between these groups will be quite fuzzy and it's a brave person that tries to keep these things cut and dry. I thought it was good to include this particular beer in the thread. It's worth noting that Rulles has a different beer that they call a saison. At 5.2%, Estivale is considered the low ABV beer in the group.

Rulles was started by Gregory Verhelst in 1998. Their beers are known for being dry and bitter. The yeast Gregory uses is from Orval. The brewery uses shallow open fermentation vessels.



The brewery's mascot is named Marcel. Marcel and the bottle labels are drawn by the artist Palix.



On this site, Belgium is naturally associated with beer, but cartooning and comics have been a major component of Belgian culture. Many Belgian beers have labels that reflect this part of their culture.

Despite the head in the pic, the carbonation in this beer was very low. I don't automatically dislike low carbonation in the beers I drink (including saisons, despite the modern idea that a saison needs to be highly carbonated), but in this particular case the beer was just too still. It's a very dry beer. There's a bitter finish and it's very, very earthy. There's a strong green apple/fruity quality that sits on top of that.

 

Mystic Saison

I knew in my gut this was a bad bottle. I don't know if Mystic even makes this beer anymore. I've had previous bad fortune at the store where I grabbed this.

The beer was badly oxidized. It was quite sweet in comparison to the other beers in the thread. I think this was a result of the age. It even tasted hot. If I ever say a beer has an apple quality, that's usually a good thing. If I say it has an apple juice quality, that's usually a bad thing. This was the latter. This bottle was a poor representation of Mystic.

 

Mystic Saison Renaud

This beer keeps things simple in order to showcase Renaud - the brewers' yeast. It's pils malt and Saaz hops - a wonderful combination for a pilsner , but in this case, Renaud crashes the party. There's a clarity to this beer that's striking compared to others in the thread. It's quite spicy and very peppery. At times, some fruitiness and lemon comes through. A great beer and a much better example of what the brewery is capable of.

@bleakies , so regarding the Mystic beers with the old labels, I'd say thumbs up to 2 out of 3. The two good ones were kept refrigerated in the store, the one bad one wasn't.

 

I haven't seen it in years either. My last experience wasn't as extreme as this one, but I do seem to recall it being a bit of an oddball. I think this last bottle was a victim of its age.

 

Do you know what the size of that bottle was?

 

I'm in the same boat. I have one Fumapapa that I'll open later this year and one Our Finest Regards that I'll keep shut for a long time.