Saison Imperiale

Brewed by De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Saison
Lochristi - Hijfte, Belgium

Serve in Tulip

Light amber color with a taller beige head. Attic yeast start with grapes and a light hint of alcohol. Heavy flavors with caramel and toast. A dubble, saison, BdG mix.

Bottle - corked and caged from the Michael Jackson Rare Beer Club. Slightly hazed copper with a thick tan colored foam atop it. Nose is flowery, yeasty and spicy. Some fruity notes are present as well. The taste is malty and spicy but sort of herbal at times. Flowers are abundant in this as well as some yeast notes. The fruit comes through mostly as cherries and plums. Body is smooth with a moderate carbonation and a medium overall feel. Finishes with more floral notes, spices, soft creamy malts, light candied fruit notes and a touch of an herbal flavor.

750 ML bottle: Deep amber w/ a short lived off white head. Plum, raisiny fruit, and raisiny fruit dominate. Lightly toasty malt and sour cherries come in second. Also earthy, leathery, and woody hops/malt aromas. Lightly gingery and clovey/peppery. Lightly sour and lactic, but not offensive! Well balanced, but lighlty sweet and malty up front. A bit cherry wood flavored, lightly woody, and herbal hop flavored. Aftertaste is wood and herbal. Smooth m/f, lighter med. body. Alcohol is well hidden. Not a bad beer, but not a great one. Some complexities, but not worthy of a strong dark!

Bottle shared with a bunch of folks at DougShoemaker’s Decemberfest 2006 - courtesy of IPFreely. Reddish-orange with a small white head. Aroma and flavour are both quite sweet, with notes of tropical fruit and yeast. Finishes with some nice drying bitterness. Not too bad...

750ml Bottle: Aroma of butter, light funk, and dactyl. Poured amber/copper in color with a medium to large-sized, rocky, tan head that lasted throughout. Cloudy. Very sparkling. Full of small and medium-sized particles throughout. Excellent lacing. Flavor is lightly sweet. Tastes of cream, light vegetables, funk, light caramel, and pale malts. Medium body. Creamy, smooth texture. Soft carbonation. Creamy, sweet, finish.

Bottle… Lightly hazed, deep amber ale with burnt orange highlights and a small, creamy, off-white head. Decent retention. Biscuity, fruity aroma with a mild spicy phenol. Medium-bodied with gentle carbonation. Well-balanced. The flavor and finish are lightly acidic, bready, a touch funky and dry as a bone. Unfortunately, the flavor falls a bit short of the liquid luxury promised by the nose. Still, a very nice brew.

Cloudy and amber. Funky nose with deep fruit (apple, pear) and some light clove. There’s also a mac & cheese note in the aroma, which makes no sense at all. Herbal, berryish (blueberry, boysenberry), funky light foot, alcohol, rich caramel, and spice...lots of stuff going on here. For all its complexity, though, it really is not very cohesive.

Clear, dark ruby red with a fluffy white head. The aroma is strong but based on a saison, but definitely suped up. Sweet caramel, earthy hops, some very mild leatherish funk, fruity floral perfume and definite residual sweetness. The body is big and sticky sweet. The low carbonation gives the beer seemingly slow movement across the tongue. The sweetness brings out a mild exotic fruitiness of pineapple, mango and some light lychee. Hints of toasted bread add some more depth that comes with a little time. More sugary sweetness and strong fruity esters come out in the mouth. The yeast is fun and playful, but not what I’d expect from a true Saison. The bitterness is there, but is light and certainly overshadowed by the sticky, sweet malt. This didn’t really do much for me, other than show how much I don’t really enjoy some suped-up versions of traditional styles.