Saison Imperiale

Brewed by De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Saison
Lochristi, Belgium

Appearance: Pours a clear, amber body with a small, fizzy, white head. Smell: Aroma of soured, forgotten fruits with a real stink of Brett apparent. Light notes of pepper and other various spices. Taste: Crudely sweet bready maltiness. Taste of tart, stale fruits seasoned with spice. Rather unclean Brett component. A few drops of castor oil. Exceptionally mild bitterness. Touch of acidity. Flourish of peppery alcohol near the continually unclean finish. Pass the water, will ya? Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Slight oiliness to the mouthfeel. Drinkability: No thanks! Not a big fan of the heavier, under-attenuated, imperialized saisons. Where’s a bottle of DuPont when I need one?

Bottle: Pours a cloudy deep amber/copper with a creamy strong off white head. The aroma has some sweet fruit/preserve-like notes, caramel apple, fig, toffee and musty & spicy Belgian yeast notes. Fairly creamy body with sticky carbonation. The flavor starts with rounded candied Belgian malts, giving off some ripe fruit flavor as well as a subtle vanilla-toffee sweetness. There’s some apple skin and mild plum hints, with later spicy phenolics and a nondescript peppery spiciness into the finish. A Saison that’s a bit on the sweet side, yet in the end is balanced. A decent offering.

nice and smooth, very malty. nicely sweet with some honey. not too hoppy, it works real well. a little bit orange at the end

The aroma is sour and fruity with some sweetness and earthiness. The appearance is amber with a so so head. The flavor is like the aroma. The palate is thin. Overall it’s OK.

750 ml. bottle. Cloudy dark orange/copper color with a big frothy head, leaving striped lacing. Aroma of a slightly funky yeast in muffiny malts, with floral, citrus, banana, peach and pear notes. Nice malt profile--caramely and cakey. Some funky flavors along with citrus, spice, thyme, and a bit of honey. While the malts are pronounced, the overall essence is off-sweet, which I like. Full bodied with fine carbonation. A pretty nice offering.

i dint know "saison" ment syrupy sweet with a malty finish.add this to the 15 "belgian strong ales" unibroue has passing for a decent beer.

Not a fan. Color is honey brown head is creamy and stays with some lacing. There is some redeeming earth funk to it but the taste is too herbal. Almost reminds me of a boilermaker with a saison and a shot of sweet vermouth instead of whiskey. The earth funk is nice though.

Thanks to notalush for sharing this one. Deep amber beer with a thick creamy tan head. Slightly hazy. Aroma is quite lovely, softly spicy, leathery with lots of dried fruits, apricot, peach and soft chewy fruit skin-like tannins. Rich sweet spicy fruitiness. Good dose of funky earthiness and bitter orange. Chewy palate, quite full-bodied and rich but the sort of dusty earthiness helps balance the richness.