The 750 Saison

The Bruery Jardinier

I'm back to the table beers. This one is 4.9% (although the Bruery website has it listed as 4.5) and it's listed here as a Belgian pale ale. At 4.9, it just squeaks in what I like to think of as an upper limit for a table beer. Please don't call the beer a "table beer" if it's 5.0 and above.

In keeping with my tendency to translate names, Jardinier is French for gardener. Is this a refined play on the idea of a saisonnier by the Bruery? The label design on the bottle is gorgeous. Like many of the beers in the thread, this bottle is a year old.

Like many of the European beers in this thread, this beer is earthy and dry. It's surprising how well this beer could pass for a European brew in that regard. I consider that a job well done. It's very light. It has great carbonation. There's a crackery quality to the malt that I really like. I would be loving the beer if not for an off flavor in there that I can't put my finger on.

The website lists these as food pairings: California avocado toast, saffron & garlic clams, rotisserie leg of lamb, crispy brussels sprouts, burnt orange ice cream.
All together, that sounds like a divine meal. I just need to figure out where I can get some burnt orange ice cream.

 

De Ranke Hop Harvest

This beer is listed as a Belgian IPA here. I'm following this beer with a De Ranke XX and I'll tackle that tag later. This beer is brewed annually with "fresh, wet hops." Each year the beer is different. My bottle is from 2011 - that's the best I could do. With the Belgian 5 year dating, the bottle is actually just at the best by date. Buying a 5 year old "wet hop IPA" seems like the last thing that anybody would do here. I opted in.

The beer was a real surprise. It was round, rich, and lacking in brightness. There's a bitter finish but nothing like XX. It was moderately dry. The beer was surprisingly drinkable and dare I say balanced. I think it actually needed more personality (but that's not to suggest that it's typical in any way). I wonder how different a fresh one would be. Surprisingly, the beer showed no signs of oxidation, but I suspect age took all the corners off this beer. A great beer.

 

Thanks! Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. I see that you are a big fan of their pils. I'd love to be there someday.

 

De Ranke XX Bitter

This beer wasn't in the group shot at the top of this thread. I grabbed a bottle after I took the shot. This beer is a favorite of mine.

It has a very strong bitterness that is smooth rather than off-putting (hense the name). It's grassy. The flavors are not as yeast driven in this beer as in other Belgians, and this helps the drinkability of the beer.

Yvan De Baets from Brasserie de la Senne has included XX in discussions about saisons even though it is generally not thought of as one. He sees a resemblance.

Years ago, XX was supposedly brewed with yeast from Rodenbach, which included brett and lactic bacteria. When it was young, it was very bitter. When it matured, it gained some tartness. I would have loved to try this earlier version of the beer.

De Ranke was founded by Nino Bacelle and Guido Devos.



The name De Ranke refers to ranks of hops on the bine.

Like their Hop Harvest beer, XX is listed here as a Belgian IPA. I get why the tag is used - it's a Belgian beer made to showcase hops. Maybe the brewers consider their beer a "Belgian IPA," but unless I see them do this, it feels like one is cheapening one culture by usings names from another culture. XX is in a class by itself. It doesn't greatly resemble the archetype saison but it's not trying or claiming to. It's going for bitter and it wonderfully succeeds.

 

This brings me to another round of blind 8oz jars.



As I do these exercises, please keep in mind that my perspective isn't: "Let's find out what the best ever saison is." My perspective is more along the lines of: "Let's see which saison I like best when I'm having a big bunch of old jarred saisons in July 2016."

I left my Pipaix out of this ranking.

Here was my list in order of personal preference:

9 - Mystic Saison
8 - Blackberry Farm Classic Saison
7 - Upright Four
6 - Mystic Table
5 - La Rulles Estivale
4 - De Ranke Hop Harvest
3 - Mystic Renauld
2 - Bruery Jardinier
1 - De Ranke XX

It's important to point out that I wasn't ranking these according to what I thought was a good archetypal saison, but rather, what I enjoyed drinking. I wanted to be clear on this because I wouldn't have had XX where I put it if I had the opposite approach. Also, like the last time, the lowest spot was essentially held by the most age damaged brew. I can't totally hold that against the brewer.

When I did this with the first group, I really wasn't very surprised by the order. In this case, the results weren't very unexpected either... except for two placements that surprised me a great deal. (The surprises are always the most fun part.) I was surprised I put the Blackberry Farm beer so low. The best thing about the blind tasting, is that I even thought to myself that that beer wasn't very saison-like... and that completely contradicts my entire take on the beer in my earlier post about it. Too funny. I honestly think that I could have placed that beer in an entirely different spot if I had the tasting later in the day or whatever. I know I struggled with getting a good read on that beer when I had it blind.

The second surprise was how highly I ranked Jardinier. The off note that I mentioned in my initial post about the beer went through undetected in this setting.

 

At this point, I'm going to sidestep saison and head to the farmhouse next door. They brew Biere de Garde there.

I pity the US Biere de Garde fan. There's lots of complaining on this site, but it's mainly trivial compared to the plight of the Biere de Garde drinker.



Brasserie de St. Sylvestre - Gavroche



I don't know what they call the piece of metal keeping the cork in, but I call it a Sylvestre staple for kicks. It makes the bottle resemble the Frankenstein monster with the electrodes in his neck. The bottle (the shape, the label, the stapled cork) makes one think of the past.

Brasserie de St. Sylvestre has an important history in the development of Biere de Garde. Owned by the Ricour family since the 1920s, they primarily produced table beers along with the other regional French brewers. In the 80s, they repositioned themselves as a "speciality beer producer." I might be able to dive into that more with my next post. None of the beers from this brewery are referred to as Biere de Gardes. Gavroche is called a "French Red Ale."

This beer was unusual, even for a Biere de Garde. It has a nice malty quality, giving the beer bready notes (the malts are 80% Munich, 20% pils). The alcohol (8.5) is noticeable. The explosive head was out of control. There's a background tartness, some fruity notes, and some noticeable oxidation. The most distinguishing feature is the bitterness. I haven't had a Biere de Garde that was anywhere near this level of bitterness. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like it works in the beer. It's not cohesive. The bready notes supplied by the malt end up turning into burnt toast notes. There's a roasty porter quality in the beer due to the bitterness, but it resembles a Dubbel more than anything else (except a Biere de Garde or a French Red Ale ).

 

As you can see, I put the name of the beer on the lid with painters tape. When I am ready to open them, I cover that tape with another piece of tape... I mix the jars up... then I write a number on the new piece of tape. When I'm done, I just take off the top piece of tape with the number on it. It's not ideal but it works well enough.

I always do blind tastings by myself. I'm essentially an unloved street urchin. Normally I use solo cups. I write the name of the beer on the bottom of the cup... pour the beers... mix them up... then write a number on the side of the cup. The solo cups have the added benefit of hiding the beer's appearance. I don't buy the cheaper cups for this because they seem to have a greater chance of having their own aroma. Once again, not ideal, but it works well enough.

 

Thanks! It looked small in your pic next to your glass. (big stem I guess ) Mystic has started using some smaller bottles and I was wondering if they were also doing this with the rebranded beers based on your pic. I guess they aren't.

 

Nice of you to drop in. Keep reading.