Saison Imperiale

Brewed by De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Saison
Lochristi, Belgium

This saison pours a deep amber color from a cork finish 750ml bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is fruity mostly apples and bananas. Medium bodied saison. Malty, yeasty and sweet with hints of pepper, cinnamon, clove and herbs. A very smooth tasting beer, with lots of bready and yeasty flavors. Not as spicy and more malty sweet than one would expect from a saison. It does have a nice crisp dry finish. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is crisp and dry. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

750ml bottle: Pours to a rusty amber colored body, mostly clear, that becomes more opaque and cloudy as I near the end of the bottle and more yeast enters the glass. The light beige colored head is large and shows some nice retention with just a bit of lacing around the glass. The aroma shows some light funky, barnyard scents alongside some mildly acidic hops, sweet apples, light caramel, a distinct yeast, and just a bit of sweaty sock. The taste initially is sweet apple & pear, though this quickly changes to a mildly funky horseblanket/barnyard flavor with some cereal, light caramel, with very faint hints of roasted coffee barely perceptible in the background. There’s also some bitter earthy hops that come through a bit more juicy and strong that I’d expect in a saison, suggesting dry hopping or at least the use of a higher AA hop than is typical. There’s also a bit of birch bark, moss, and some oak, pine flavors that make me think this beer may have spent some time in wood, particularly relatively young barrels. Medium bodied, medium-lively carbonation, dry (though not as dry as some other saisons). Finishes with some bitter earthy hops and herbal wood notes along with just a bit of residual sweetness on the palate. A bit dark, but then what exactly is the "style" of saison anyway? Nice.

Interesting beer! Very enjoyable. Aroma was peppery and yeasty. Amber in color, slightly hazy. Mouthfeel was very smooth. Flavors were spicy, bready, herby and sweet. Can’t really notice the alcohol much. I would recommend this saison. Very tasty.

Poured a thick head that faded fast. My first flavor that I identified was the pineapple, and I liked it. It then quickly fizzed into a more spice type flavor, not much on the backend, but a good front end.

750, corked and baled. Pours a grainy and opaque dark brown with a towering, sudsy, surging off-white head. Enormous brown apple, green apple, brown sugar, and sweet brown bread nose. Creamy medium body with prickly carb. All the sweet fruity and bready notes come back from the nose. This is a nice beer, brewed creatively and well, that just doesn’t add up to much in the way of refreshment or captivation of the interest.

Bottle shared with Blankboy & Hogtown Harry at Coles. Pours a lighter hazy brown amber. Much darker& maltier than most saisons that ive encountered. Aroma was malty, harry mentioned graham cracker & a whisp of smoke, dried fruits. Taste was malty sweet, spicy, slightly tart with dried fruit. Not really what I think of when thinking of saisons but a good beer either way

Not the best saison I’ve had. Not undrinkable either. The problem was the aftertaste was bitter and bland, not pleasant at all. It started nice, with some tartness and a little bit of spice, but in the end was fairly disappointing.

Slightly hazy amber pour. Aroma of spice and malt, with some dusty basement. Flavor is very similar. Good, but nothing spectacular.