A Salute to Saisons (2020-2021)

Outstanding post! And that's a lot of beer drinking for an afternoon- even for me to say .

I always associated Tres Monts with Biere de Gardes; is that one specifically called a saison?

 

It hasn't been called a saison. The brewer calls it a "French farmhouse golden ale." It's been lumped into the Biere de Garde category by others (whether or not this is due to country of origin vs the characteristics of the beer is up for debate). With the brewery being close to the Belgian border, they've also had a Belgian-like character to their beers. The brewery is currently celebrating their 100 year anniversary.

 

I split those two tastings over two days. Stoppers in the Dupont 750s didn't hurt them.

 

Very interesting and good to know.

As a saison maybe it's closer to Bons Voyex (sp?) then?

 

I was thinking of that beer specifically in this context. Perhaps there's some commonality, but perhaps not. Personally, I don't think of Avec Les Bons Voeux as a saison either. 3 Monts might be a good bit cleaner than that beer, but I'm not gonna venture an opinion off the cuff. I should clarify that I thought the 3 Monts beer was very nice (as I always have in the past), but quickly stopped comparing it to the other beers because of how different it was from them.

 

Sorry for the multiple posts. At the time, I was also thinking how it would be interesting to have that 3 Monts beer alongside Avec Les Bons Voeux and Duvel in a blind tasting. They're all essentially strong, pale, Belgian-ish beers. It would be interesting to see if the 3 Monts still felt like an outsider in a French tradition due to body and sweetness (and yeast?) or if it felt right at home.

 

Saison Dupont date codes are a total mystery. The first two numbers after the "L" are clearly the year, but the next three numbers is not the Julian date. I always assumed it was, until I saw codes that go higher than 365. No combination of the numbers works out as a week number either. I'm guessing it's just a batch number that Dupont uses.

 

Yeah. I could never figure out the last three numbers. In the two examples above, those three numbers appear to be somewhat connected to the date in that the larger number has a later bottled on date within the given year... but I'll need more than just two examples to see if there's any validity to that. Regardless, it's great to have that clear date on some of their product - A very welcome change since that wasn't always the case.

In a previous post I mentioned how Dedeycker finds Saison Dupont optimal at 6 months. Coincidentally, the 2020 beer I had was right at that point. If I ever do a side-by-side with different ages of this beer again, I'd like to have a beer somewhere in the 6 month ballpark (or at least less than a year old) and a beer with less than 6 months on it.

 

Congratulations to my favorite local brewery, Silver Branch, for winning gold in Classic Saison at GABF for Beyond the Gnome World. It was released before this thread was started, so I guess they just held a case back in the cooler to submit, but looking back at my review, it was a damn good beer. I still think that their combination of Ardennes and another Belgian yeast (DuPont, Blaugies, Belle Saison? who knows?) is a winner.

 

One of my fall favorites. 2019 Allagash Ghoulschip.

Cheers!

 

Fox Farm Pebble, batch 2, June 2020:

“With Pebble we seek to express a different side to our mixed culture - one often overshadowed in favor of more bold, acid-producing components. Expressive Saison yeast drives a nuanced complexity while a gentle Amarillo dry hop lends a bit of brightness and life. Naturally carbonated in the bottle and presented in the spirit of subtlety and refreshment. 4%”

 

Blasphemy Grisette w/ pear from Humboldt Regeneration. Nothing too crazy, soft body with white bread and pear and a very light acidity. Easy to drink

 

One of the most original (and quite good) beers I’ve ever had. Everything about it is so Allagash.

Couldn’t do Saison Saturday. Just not feeling it yesterday. The weather was brisk, leaves were falling off the trees. Wait...I did have an Allagash Haunted House. Does that count?

 

I’m pretty sure they use their house Belgian yeast to ferment it so I’d say it counts.

 

Oh there is definitely a Belgian yeast strain used—nevertheless, I needed a ruling. Thank you.

 

Grizacca is my favorite Oxbow beer. I wish it were available more frequently.

 

A style I have had little exposure to but I would like to explore more:

New Beer Weekend #13

 

Going to take a break this weekend (work is insane), but next Saturday, I'm figuring that my Biere de Garde using Omega Gulo will have cleared from bottle lagering, and the hoppy El Dorado Saison with Imperial Suburban Brett will be carbonated and worth a first taste. I

t'll be my birthday, and my first Halloween in a suburban home (grew up in the country and have been living in apartments until now). Looking forward to getting a decent buzz on and scaring some kids with some deep existential questions. Or maybe I'll just be a good dude and give them some candy.