Conundrum saisonale

Hello,
 

           in the run up to Christmas I was asking Davefromtshop what delights he had for me to buy. Knowing I was a fan of the style he told me about the Fantome Saison. Apparently it was considered a classic, and had orgasmic and worshipful rave reviews on Ratebeer, which comes as a surprise what with reviewers on there being so shy of scaturient outpourings....
 

Then came the caveats. I listened carefully. Reviewers had almost unanimously noted it smelled really unpleasant (but tasted nothing like its aroma). Also, it was strong, and heart-stoppingly expensive.

Despite these warnings, I decided to buy a bottle, since I got the feeling it was a bit of a coup for The Archer Road Beer Stop (where I used to work, and whose owner I am a good friend of, just to provide full disclosure!) to stock it. I bought two of this enormous bottle of 8.0% beer, and tonight I'm tasting one.

The first surprise comes from the fact that on opening the cap there's a cork underneath. What is this, radioactive material! How likely is it that the contents will escape? Once I got the cork out, with a satisfying pop, I got to encounter the aroma, or, erm, smell, for myself. Hmmm. Its not foul but its a bit vegetably and tart and reminds me in some ways of compost, or more worryingly, off beer. Luckily the taste is unrelated to the above description. However, the taste is my next screwed up face making puzzle....
 

I should point out that I'm drinking this as I write. Its almost less hassle than making notes and then typing them up, and also stops me from constantly taking photos. My gut reaction is that I think the taste is the beers most surprising element - and I'm not sure if I think that's a good thing.
 

One thing's for certain - this is a strong beer and it needs to be chilled. Carbonation and sharp flavours and that lovely Belgian yeast don't need to be served at room temperature. As I have a lovely Orval glass, at least half the bottle is back in the fridge. I suspect that may restrain the flavours slightly so they meld seamlessly together. At the moment I am drinking three beers in one. Its a very confusing experience for my palate.

 

The first hit is yeast. Its that recognisable sweetish Belgian affair that really should be in a saison. Then there is orange, and bitterness, almost like a Fullers Vintage Ale. Its not terribly easy to drink either, but its 8% and not cold. I don't think its trying to ape the refreshingly light farmhouse style that I seem to lean towards, but equally I'm not sure what its trying to be.
 

The other element in here is a sweet and sour battle between barley sugar and astringent almost bitter fruit flavours. In one mouthful it goes Corsendonk Pater (note have not had this in years, this is an unreliable taste memory), gueze, Buxton Rye and an aftertaste of orange boiled sweets and the Popperings Hommelbier. To be honest, it could be described as fruit salad sweets, Kriek, Magic Rock High Wire, Marmite and Gulden Draak. That's far less accurate and a bit silly, but it performs the task of bamboozling your expectations and (on drinking), your taste-buds in a similar way. Why won't you make sense unusual saison thing!
 

I've took the glass out of the freezer now and poured slightly more chilled beer into it, and noted that the list of ingredients includes spices. Not which ones of course, that wouldn't be sufficiently "artisanal", but maybe there could be a clue in there? Other than that, the temperature exercise has achieved nothing. Where Urthel Saisonnaire and Saison Dupont have a refreshing lemony edge, this has a slightly jarring sour bitterness, more like earthy lime than zesty lemon. Its easier to drink now its cold but I'm not getting that must have, super refreshing palate cleansing mouthfeel that my favourite saisons have had.

Despite that, an hour after pouring I'm sort of warming to the ascorbic aftertaste, and liking the sour fruit that goes with it. Its complex, slightly unbalanced and surprising. Much like a lot of people I know and care about.

In conclusion then, I like this beer, but its nothing like what I expected. Its acidic bitterness is odd yet not unpleasant, but its aroma is hardly enticing and its probably not worth the price. If you had never tasted saison before I'm not sure you'd try it again after this - but if you had, I fear like me you'd spend all your time wondering why it wasn't as good as the Urthel for example - or the stupendous Dark Star cask Saison, which was epic.
 

The answer to the conundrum then? Now I think I know less about saison and more about expectation than I did before. I thought all saisons were meant to be fresh and lemony and delicately sweet and were brewed for farm workers (apologies if I have walked into some obvious beer writers in joke here!). Fantome is none of those things. And I have no confidence in the idea that the previous statement means this is not a proper saison beer either!
 

I can't even work out if that's good....

 

 

Wee Beefy
 

Live Blog - De Dolle Stille Nacht 2010

Now Then,

this is my first live blog. So as not to disappoint those veterans of innovative media, I must confirm that its only really live in the sense that it is being written as I drink. Instead of afterwards, like it usually is....

So, this is my only bottle of the Stille Nacht from the dark days when the brew date wasn't on the label anymore. I still have a bottle of the 2006 in my stash. I imagine that will be fecking absurd to be brutally honest. This is silly enough.

Brewery : De Dolle (says Oer bier on side, probably from Esen, but label is more interpretive than factual.
Name : Stille Nacht, brewed October 2010
Strength : 12.0%
BCA/none BCA? : Erm...unfiltered maybe?.
Purchased : Archer Road Beer Stop Sheffield.

Colour : Gold, light chestnut, a little like Retsina, but without the cloudiness since yeast in bottle for now for initial taste.

Carbonation/Pouring : Silent insurgence from the bottle but with retained head and bubbles carrying on their ascent long after opening..

Aroma : Alcohol! Sweet malt and fruit, lots of peach, orange, lemon, brandy, perhaps cherry, currants, raisins and somehow, peat..

Taste : this is a very silly beer. Its crammed full of intense sweet alcohol notes, with a jammy fruit preserve in the back of the mouth before alcoholic flavours wash over to reveal spiky sweet malt, that distinctive Belgian yeast, and and some sort of sour marmalade, the fruit of which might be quince (I realise there's only really a few marmalade fruits....). I'm going to add the yeast now.

After adding the extra but vital matter there is a loud fizz and a flurry of detritus in the bottom of the glass riding the new wave of carbonation, quite large chunks of yeast swirl up and fall like the contents of a stood Alka Seltzer. Intriguingly they don't all drop, they are still there in the glass reminding me that this is an evolving brew.

The first apres yeast taste is a little more mellow but with a slight ascorbic edge, but there's more of that dry alcoholic fruit and some surprising bitterness fighting its way through to the forefront of this distinctly and thankfully uncompromising and unsubtle adventure into alcohol. Like a Barley wine but with more finesse it fizzes on the tongue with that ever present alcoholic citrus and dry fruit taste lingering. Its been chilled for 45 minutes and tastes like it it could live with another hour. Like I said, its daft.

Continuing down the glass the flavour splits a little - the dryish fruit and alochol linger but the more subtle malts and hints of bitterness disperse. Also, I notice that this is perhaps the cloudiest and most claggy ale I have ever drank - the yeast sediment neither dissipates nor sinks, it just hangs in sharp vinous stasis waiting to assault the tastebuds. I don't really know what to make of this. If I had poured this first off I might have been seriously worried that this was from Shropshire, but it doesn't necessarily impact on the flavour, except a half thought idea that older vintages had more proportionate yeast deposits and melded the physical matter and taste a little better.

Head retention - not bad, there's still an identifiable white/grey crown on the top as I near the end. .


WBrating : 7.2.
This low score may be a reflection of my unease at the pond water cloudiness f the beer, and also that the sheer intensity f the beer makes any kind of expeditious tasting impossible. And the drink warms it becomes cloying, and the yeast flavours niggle. Its a stupendous beer in terms of overall taste, incredibly fruity to begin with, but the slip in marks reflects the loss of those vibrant fruits as the beer goes on..
More birthday sups to come this week!

Wee Beefy