My 1st Dupont Saison

Last night I went out for my birthday!!! I started off at Rock Bottom Brewery.

My first was a "Catcher In The Rye" IPA. I ordered that and the lady waiting on us said "Cask Conditioned or Tap" I say from the cask. So she says, "Good choice, It has a good raspberry taste"

I'm like hold up... you mean its got raspberry??? She goes on to say the brewer is putting raspberry in a lot of the beers. I cautiously agree to get the IPA.

Well, not what I expected for an IPA even with berries. The raspberry more or less killed the hop flavor. I could only sense the hops when I swished it around. Dissappointment sets in... I ordered a white tail pail ale, since I wanted a hoppy pale ale to go with the texas pepper steak topped w/ jalopeno butter.

Well the steak had no butter and was dry like shoe leather. Should be expected because the lady failed to ask how I wanted it cooked. (I was too emgrossed in my Rasp IPA to think about cooking it....) It was medium well.

I ordered a White Tail PA for the remainder of the dinner. I really wanted something hoppy to go with the steak. This PA was better than the IPA because you could taste the hops.

On to the highlight of the night!!!

I went to the Red Monk in down town Des Moines and asked for a Saison. They had three two in champagne bottles and one it a 350ml. I got the smaller one which was a Dupont.

It was pretty nice!! Efforvesent, fruity and oddly dry at times. It had the odd scent that can old be described as farmhouse. It was not real prevailent just a subtle reminder every few sipps. I can't speak to the color since the bar was dark. I contemplated getting one of those other bottles of saison to go. I can't remember what they were. Belgian/French???

It more than made up for the botched RIPA.

I will be making a Saison soon!!

The Saison Dupont is great stuff and very indicative of the style. Next try one of Dupont's other saisons, like Foret or Avec Les Bon Voeux. I also highly recommend anything from Brasserie Fantome...

Went to Brouwer's Flemish Grand Cafe last night for my brother birthday and I ordered a Saison Dupont Avec Les Bon Voeux '07. It was excellent - I am not too familiar with the Belgian styles and have been trying to expand my horizons. But definitely something I would try again. Maybe even look into brewing a batch...

I also ordered a Duchess du Bourgogne Flemish Sour Red - not a big fan. The cherry flavor was good, but the vinegar smell and flavor ruined it for me. Do all soured beers have that intensity of acidity/vinegar?

I'm excited now! I've never had a saison before -- so far as Belgians go, I've learned through my "beerucation" that Dubbels are kinda good, Tripels usually make me hurl, Quads are nucking futs, Belgian Dark Strongs can be interesting and tolerable..... But I've not had a saison.

I want to try the Boulevard Smokestack Saison, but I want to try something authentic first.

I picked up a bottle of the Saison Dupont (750ml / $7.50) at the grocery store tonight. I will probably drink it Saturday - I would drink it tonight but I want to appreciate it over some time, and get to know it, not chug it before my bed time.

Saison Dupont is amazing stuff.

Greg

chriso said:

I picked up a bottle of the Saison Dupont (750ml / $7.50) at the grocery store tonight. I will probably drink it Saturday - I would drink it tonight but I want to appreciate it over some time, and get to know it, not chug it before my bed time.

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Be sure to serve it in a nice glass. I believe a goblet is appropriate. My first was served in a small goblet or something like a chablis glass.

Report back on your thoughts!!

saisons are dry beers so higher attenuation, higher carbonation from bottle condition

NWernBrewer said:

I also ordered a Duchess du Bourgogne Flemish Sour Red - not a big fan. The cherry flavor was good, but the vinegar smell and flavor ruined it for me. Do all soured beers have that intensity of acidity/vinegar?

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The Duchesse is very sweet for a sour beer and one of my least favorite Flanders Reds I have had. I don't recall any acetic notes in it, but I have had plenty of sour beer virgins tell me that they perceived vinegar when they were really smelling/tasting lactic acid. While the flavor diversity between different sour ales is huge, they are all very acidic - that is what makes them sour.

Rodenbach Grand Cru and New Belgium La Folie are my favorite Flanders Reds. Petrus Oud Bruin is a decent Flemish Brown. Any German Berliner Weisse you can find is a great example of the style. And for the lambic family, you can't go wrong with Cantillon.

I' suggest trying a Weisse - they are difficult to find, but reasonably inexpensive. They are sour without a lot of the extra "funk" that Brett and Pedio tend to produce. If you can't find a German Weisse, Dogfish Head's Festina Peche is not bad. Serve very cold.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't realize I responded to a post that's a year and a half old.

I'm glad all of you enjoyed yours. Mine was so skunky I couldn't drink it. Damn green bottle.

ArcaneXor said:

The Duchesse is very sweet for a sour beer and one of my least favorite Flanders Reds I have had. I don't recall any acetic notes in it, but I have had plenty of sour beer virgins tell me that they perceived vinegar when they were really smelling/tasting lactic acid. While the flavor diversity between different sour ales is huge, they are all very acidic - that is what makes them sour.

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The Duchesse is plenty acetic. And also, I would not call it a flanders red, but that's ok. There are plenty off sour beers that aren't cloyingly sweet, and they can be phenomenal.

I was very underwhelmed with Saison Dupont. I got the very dry and slightly spicey but there wasn't much other flavors. I prefer Saison Athene by Saint Somewhere out of Tarpon Springs, FL.

Offtopic: The duchesse is sweet but it is still balanced out. I do prefer Rodenbach Grand Cru but the Duchesse is still second on the list. It is definitely a Flanders red.

Dupont does alot better job with Foret, I have a couple of those laid down. The Saison is generally pretty good, but I have found a great deal of variation between bottles at different times, sometimes its too skunky to really enjoy. Foret is the way to go, a really tasty farmhouse ale.

Short Drive said:

I'm glad all of you enjoyed yours. Mine was so skunky I couldn't drink it. Damn green bottle.

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Mine was skunked too.

It isn't supposed to be like that...right?

Patrick