Is this how saisons taste?

Tried myself a Golden Cap Saison from New Holland Brewing.

Normally, Like the beers that they put out, but I'm not sure the remaining 5 bottles of this will be drank. (drunk?)

Does anyone know if this is a good example of the style, or did they throw out a curve ball with their use of "spelt"?

Thanks

I'm not familiar with that particular brewery's example - but I consider Saison Dupont to be the benchmark of the style.

Not familiar with it either. If you can't find Saison Dupont, Ommegang's "Hennepin" is very good too. Its a good bit cheaper than Dupont, which makes it my go-to Saison.

I will second the Ommegang recommendation for a good example of the style.

Hennepin doesn't have nearly enough saison yeast character to be called a saison, in my opinion. Ommegang uses a single Belgian yeast strain for all their beers, so Hennepin falls a little flat to my palate without a dedicated saison yeast strain. Not nearly peppery enough.

Still very drinkable!

that beer is aweful, picked up a single of it to try and it was aweful, possibly the worst beer i have ever had. it is not a good representation of the style. try something else...

I thought the Golden Cap pretty good. A little unusual, but nothing freakishly different than other Saisons, which are kind of known for their variety anyway. . .

I find there to be a TON of variation in commercial Saisons. Dupont is the standard, and is very delicious to me. However, I just dumped out 3/4ths of a bottle of Great Divide's Saison because it had a very moldy taste. If they get too funky, it gets really hard for me to enjoy them.

I also think that golden cap was a decent beer. If you stood them side by side with some other mentioned saisons maybe it does not stand up that well. I don't think you will like many saisons if you hated golden cap.

last night I happened to find an "Imperial Saison" from New Glarus.
First time I have ever tryed one so I had no idea what to expect either.
Bottle said it used Belgium yeast, and "soured".
Oh yea, this stuff was great! kinda tasted like blue cheese or something.
I hope other saisons are like this because I thought this was an awesome beer.

I actually liked the Great Divide Saison, but the smell was so strong that it was kinda hard to drink.

North Coast make a saison called Le Merle. It is very very delicious. The problem with DuPont is the green bottle and alot of the time you end up with a skunked version by they time the bottle makes it to you.

Reverend JC said:

North Coast make a saison called Le Merle. It is very very delicious. The problem with DuPont is the green bottle and alot of the time you end up with a skunked version by they time the bottle makes it to you.

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Thats my problem with Dupont too. Great beer, but I get a skunked botttle every once and a while. Thats another reason I lean towards Hennepin.

That New Glarus Imperial Saison is really good. However, its the first sour saison I have tried and the sour was the dominant taste. Picture that beer without the sour and that is what a "normal" saison tastes like.

The New Glarus Stone Soup actually tastes kind of like a milder version of a saison to me.

You cheeseheads are SO lucky to have New Glarus in your backyard. I make periodic trips to the Woodman's in Kenosha and stock up on Spotted Cow and the Wisonsin Red. Yummm