Weird Beard, Saison 28

Drunk pretty fresh iirc. Murky amber pour, wood and booze on the nose. Taste was wood and booze at the front, then danky syrup hop, pepper saison yeasty into pretty long + dry finish. Strong dipper body. Spritzy carb wore off pretty quick. Really good, delcicious and morish beer. Hope it comes back.

Glazen Toren, Saison d'Erpe Mere

Delicious saison from Glazen Toren in Erpe-Mere (surprisingly enough). Sub £7 about 5/6 months ago, money very well spent. Watched Spectre, it was dull.

Fantôme, Brise-BonBons!

You know that really irritating taste in an IPA when you've got to it too late? The overpowering maltiness barely tempered by a nondescript herbal/vegetal parenthesis, the oily mouthfeel without the accompaniment, then a big bitterness that teases you about how good it was when fresh. This Fantôme basically. Maybe some bitter lemon flavours, some saisonyness, but mostly just the taste of dissappointment. (I've still got a Pissenlit wasting away somewhere to upset me as well.....)

Fantôme, India Red Ale

Since my first time with Fantôme, my experiences havent been so great. My second bottle of the saison seemed a little tired - there was none of that tropical, dry hop business. I put it down to hop fade (it was an older bottle that I'd been aging after all).

I figured their India Red Ale would be a pungent, dry hopped to eff saison. Not really, unfortunately. The fact that I don't have notes for it suggests I was underwhelmed although I do remember three things quite clearly - the first was this bizarre herbal taste that I didn't recognise (funnily enough, in hindsight, the closest thing I can think of that resembled that taste was the Wacky Cabbage that we used to buy from East West). Second was a very bitter finish, but not a particularly pleasant one. Lastly, I remember struggling to finish it. Overall, a bit of a shame really.

Late Knights and Good taste, Imperial Saison

Oops! This one slipped through the net somehow....SE19/SE20 collab between the mighty Late Knights and Manish at Good Taste. This was Christmas 2014....cheers!

Brasserie Fantôme, Saison

A very popular Belgian saison, particularly in the US I understand. It's pretty 'complex' I suppose - there's a small sourness going on (cider vinegar on the nose), ripe orange, sweaty farmhouse (brett?) - the taste is kind of all over the shop. It's kind of cool though - I quite like the jumbly nature of it. It's not heavy going like the Moneuse, even though it's a similar abv and the colours aren't particularly dissimilar. After I'd acclimatised to it, my overriding impressions was that of a dry hopped saison: overripe fruit style hoppage - some pineapple, sweetness (malts?), acidity too. Finsh was bitter, some more hops there too iirc. Warming but not overly boozy. A warm up drink would do well I think. Fantastic saison overall. I have another one.

Brasserie de Balugies, Moneuse

Dark orange pour, yeasty aroma + ripe fruit. Mouthfeel is heavy. High carbonation (obv). Taste is yeast, saison (:/), some fruit, but no funk/sweat/barnyard (unlike the D'Epeautre). Some bitterness in the finish. Hard to drink all if this. A bière de garde rather than a saison? I do like Blaugies though - hope to one day get hold of that one they did with Hill Farmstead.

Brasserie de Blaugies, Saison d'Epeautre

Big fat pop as the cork came off! No gush though. Purchased from Bottledog for a semi-decent £6.50. Sweet + sweaty nose, light body. Taste had some funk, coriander?? Quite sweet and some yeast. Small bitterness in the finish. Dry. Good. Will buy again.

Brasserie Dupont, Avec Les Bon Voeux

Don't drink this often enough unfortunately. Have had a bottle every Christmas since 2013, planning to have another this year to make 3 years on the trot. An easy 4.5/5 this beer, love it. Can't pronounce that last word in the name though.

Brasserie Dupont, Saison Dupont Cuvée Dry Hopping 2014

Shit-the-bed good, this saison. Shading the Elusive/Weird Beard collab on vicosity and mouthfeel, this 2014 cuvée was hopped with wohle challenger hops for big marmalade and dank orange aromas and taste, married with Dupont farmhouse signature yeastiness. 2015 wasn't quite as pungent (Minstrel hops from the UK) but still excellent. This drink is released in April/May and I tend to get hold of one towards the end of the year so I'm not even drinking them at their freshest...

Red Hill Brewery, The Bloody Plums Farmhouse Saison

My brother currently resides in Melbourne and he regularly sends me updates about the local brewing scene and some of the stand out beers he's sampled. One in particular he mentioned was this fruit saison by Red Hill Brewing. He brought a bottle all the way back from Down Under for (swapped for a Kernel barrel aged saison). I wish he had brought a case! A truly world class beer. The plums come from the tree on their land and a bumper crop one year led to this beer.

Looked a slight pink in the glass? A big fruity nose. Authentic saison high carbonation. The fruit was certainly up front but at the same time quite subtle, lending a key element to the beer rather than defining it. It's hard to find the words that do justice to just how well intergrated the fruit element in this was. I'd had the Ilkley Siberia on tap a month or so after this, prompted to do so primarily because it was the only other saison I'd seen made overtly with fruit. That beer was too sweet and consequently, I'm afraid to say, the little rhubarb there was came across as nearly sickly and almost artificial.

The Bloody Plums was the antithesis of the Ilkley. Following the fruit was a Fantôme-style orange hoppiness and that strong, saison yeast centre. Finish bitter and mildly drying. Some of Konrad's photos from his visit to the brewery are below. Check some of this other images here.

Brooklyn, 1/2 Ale

Bought this form M&S of all places. Citrus/lemon nose. High carb, foamy. Very watery taste, some lemon squash. Minerally. Some very slight saison character in the mid-palate, but only on about 1 sip in 5. Dry finish. £1.90 isn't bad, but I'd rather pay £1.99 for a Table Beer from Greensmiths for my sub £2 sessioning needs (or indeed the Fourpure session, also available at M&S these days for a totally reasonable £1.90).

Funnily enough, I synchronicitously stumbled across this post by Adrian Tierney-Jones where he quotes Garrett Oliver, re: saisons, thus - ‘In my mind, there are really only a few things truly required of a saison. It must be dry – residual sugar would have a considerable effect on the beer’s ability to keep through the summer. They should also be fairly hoppy. Moderate alcohol, 5- 7%, would make them strong enough to last for a while, but not so strong that they’d stun the farm workers who drank it. So perhaps it is not a style that lends itself to orthodoxy, but rather one that originally existed to answer a question – “what can I brew that’s nutritious, refreshing, tasty, and will last for at least a year in the cellar?”’

Elusive, Lord Nelson

Brewed in collab with Weird Beard by Andy Parker who's just 'gone pro' in the brewing biz. I think it made an appearance as a Weird Beard brew prior to this release? The nose off this was absolutely knock out, it filled the room after taking the cap off. I don't have my notes for this but the memory of the aroma is unforgettable - big tropical aromas rather than grape/wineous. Taste followed irrc. One of the best UK saisons in recent memory. I bought 2 of these in the end from Mr Lawrence. I sincerely hope we see this beer again. Good luck with Elusive Andy!

Burning Sky, Saison à la Provision

I've had most of the season-named saisons from Burning Sky as well as their pales and IPAs. Whilst awaiting their Cuvée (Saison à la Provision blended with imported Girardin lambic I believe?), this, their 'standard' (un-seasonal) saison is the only beer I've had from them that ostensibly encapsulates the blurb on their website about ageing, foudres and blending on their site. I missed the Flanders Red (not my style tbh) and unfortunately there were some carbonation issues with the vatted porter. I'm kind of anticiapting (and I'd really be excited about) a UK lambic or g(u)euze from them. I hope it's due soon....?

This saison is certainly great although I drank my second one with a bit of a cold. Some hop and sweat (feet) on the nose. Sweet to taste, yeasty. Possibly some mild brett. Sourness not in evidence (I drank this after a gueuze). Bitter finish with slight alcohol. I will go back to this beer, but it is expensive. 750ml would be nice. (I missed the Anniversaire edition of this. Bah.) I have a soft spot for this brewery, even if, on balance, their output hasn't been as consistent as some others. The wallonian/sennian rhetoric and imagery on the site makes alot of sense when transposed to the South Downs and I'm eagerly awaiting (what I hope will be - I hope I haven't got this wrong!) the first, finished results of their ageing of some locally spontaneously fermented beers.

Kernel, Bière de Saison, Barrel aged and blended with London Sour.

Not sure if Ninkasi is barrel aged or not. If not, then I think this one from the Kernel was my first barrel aged saison. Very nice too, drank just under a year since bottling date. Vinegar nose (the London Sour influence?), saison taste and fizz. Wineous. Super drying on the finish (tannins from the oak barrel or the grapes?). Not had this style before. (Since - I had a similar drink by Anspach and Hobday, a galaxy saison aged in Chardonnay barrels.) An understandably expensive style, but one I will go back to (wallet permitting).

Wild Beer Co, Epic Saison

Not quite so epic, but categorically not rubbish either. Another of these 'modern style' hopped saisons, this time with Sorachi Ace. Sorachi not my fave - I preferred the similarly styled Weird Beard effort. That said, in lieu of a more striking alternative, I will certainly drink this again. As far as Wild Beer saisons go, I might rather have the Ninkasi or perhaps even the Schnoodlepip, but Epic Saison is certainly an above par component of a brewery's core range and well worth £2.30 of anyone's money (price from the website shop).

Anspach and Hobday, IPSaison

Gusher. Orange pour, woody nose. Very high carbonation. Good, thick mouthfeel. Taste went wood, some pepper, citrus, with grapefruit bitterness (lasting well) following. Spicy/sharp yeast linger. A touch of dryness. I generally like this mix of styles (saison + modern hopping techniques) and this one is the balls out version thereof: it's a winner for me. Bought from Oddbins in Balham.

Brew By Numbers, 01/13

Noteless for this. Picked up in August, from We Brought Beer. Mosaic didn't pop as much as I expected iirc. Nice that there's a London brewery doing a strong line of saisons and I do love the 750ml bottles.