Thiriez Extra

Brewed by Brasserie Thiriez
Style: Saison
Esquelbecq, France

Serve in Tulip

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UPDATED: JUN 9, 2006 Rerate 06.09.06 Gigantic rocky headed pour. Merengue-like foam. Lightly hazed golden. Fantastically intense grassy-hoppy aroma, rustic and bright and focused all at the same time. Medium-light bodied (how does this have as much body as this does, considering its dryness?) bone dry. This is mind-blowingly good. Perhaps I’m a touch euphoric as it is 5:30 on a beautiful 80 degree summer night, My almost three year old sun is blowing bubbles over by the stereo in the back yard, asking me to blow bubbles with him, but all I want to do is soak up the beauty of this beer. I’ve never dropped the 5 before, but I’ve had 2 in the last week (thanks Matt!) and I’m convinced that this is worth the 5. Insanely herbal hop character and Matt is totally right in that the hoppiness is totally unamerican. Off I go blissfully floating away with the world best (session) beer. Mind-blowingly amazing! Grassy flowery hop aroma. Bright hazy golden, abundant carbonation. Light bodied, dryish. Bitter, with a nice flowery hop finish. Insanely refreshing. This is real saison. 848416 7/14/2005

75cl bottle. Poured into Duvel tulip. Man! This thing gives some head! I wait about 10 min before drinking it, just smelling it and watching that head slowly fall, leaving chunks of lace all over the tulip. Impressive appearence. The aroma is tremendous...a massive mix of ripe fruit, sweet flowers(magnolias??), and fresh herbs...somehow it "smells sweet"...the aroma makes me physically feel something...powerful. Now if those headache causing candle shops at the mall had candles that smelled like this, I might be forced to buy a case! Mouthfeel is creamy and not sweet like the nose suggested...fairly dry and certainly bitter. The flavor is loaded with all those aspects in the aroma...wild honey sort of aspect with flowers and fruits...tangerine and lemon...its hoppy, but in a distinctively unAmerican way...very rustic...I’ve never tasted an American beer remotely like this...the closest comparison I have is De Ranke’s XXBitter...I think the EXXtra might be even a bit more complex though...I’ll need to do a blind side by side to find out. I’ve gone through the better part of a case of these and after the first one I told Laura, "ya know, this beer has changed everything for me. everything." Its time to re-evaluate things! One thing...this is a very active beer, but it also really suffers from being served too cold...so be ready for a glass of foam...Large tulip is recommended.

Pours a hazy straw color, topped by a huge mound of fluffy frothy white head of suds. Great head retention and lacing. Crisp dry aroma - hoppy for sure. Is this a hop bomb I smell? Nope - not a hop bomb, though it is on the hoppy side for a saison. I like that. The malt is very dry with flavors of wheat and crisp rye, slightly sweet and biscuity as well. The hops are both tangy and floral, with a long bitter grapefruit pith aftertaste accompanied by a short-lived bee pollen flavor. Incredible soft mouthfeel, gentle carbonation but lots of effervescence

UPDATED: APR 1, 2012 Hazy golden body with a large, rocky white head. Wonderful fresh cut grass hoppy nose with a touch of citrus and warm dough. The flavor fairly dry and moderately bitter with a decent malt pressence - cracker, bread, hay, with lots of herbal and grassy hops, some light lemon shows at the end. Mouthfeel is quite dense for a 4.5% beer, it’s still light and spritzy though with plenty of carbonation. This beer belongs in the Louvre.

bottle. real nice rustic, fresh grass, dank wet hops, farm aroma. taste is quite grassy, with some toasted dough, touch of perfume, old world, dank musty cellar. dry. real nice. complex, tasty, refreshing beer. little too good. actually, this is unbelievably good. the best thing to come out of france since those kate middleton photos.

UPDATED: APR 30, 2013 bottle-conditioned 750ml. billowy white head atop a hazy gold body. fresh noble hop spiciness and green grass / fresh leaves, and cheese rind / must in the nose with lighter touches of toasted grains. medium-high bitterness, medium-high acid and dry throughout, it has wonderfully soft velvety carbonation and well-suited rustic must from the yeast; very farmhouse / barnyard in character. delicious. it took me a while to find a bottle in good shape. well worth it. Thiriez are proving themselves capable of producing farmhouse ales on-par with the best to come out of Belgium.

750 ml bottle.

The first time I tried this was at Uber with Oakes and crew; this time I was in no mood to share. The beer pours a hazy gold with a huge eggwhite head, offering up a lovely lemon-zesty aroma rich in hops and just enough saison complexity to keep things interesting. The flavor is mind-blowingly good, ever so slightly sweet early, bits of tropic fruit atop a layer of gorgeous grassy hop flavor that just doesn’t quit, cut with more citric hop elements. Mouthfeel is refreshing and delightful.

This beer is a marvellous example of how one can make a big, complex, interesting, delightful beer at only 4.5% alcohol. I’m incredibly impressed and will be buying multiple bottles at my next opportunity.

UPDATED: JUL 25, 2007 Cloudy yellow body topped by an initially large white head settling down as a thing layer of foam. The aroma is a bit wild. Crisp malts and crisp hops with pineapples flavours around each corner. Pineaples, minerals and salty yeast join forces to create some kind of light but unique tartness. The hops are rather citrusy with a complex character moving from Belgian, English and flower petals. A bit Champaign-ish with hints of a Vieille Provision. Taste is unexpectedly intense coming from 4.5% beer. Thin body with a mean attitude, just like the women from this country.

FBR brought a bottle of this back from Premier Gourmet, but it’s labeled as "Extra". This is really my kind of saison! Pale hazy golden, perfect head and lacing - a real beauty to behold. Aroma is herbal and hoppy, grassy fields, some malts. Palate is soft but also brite with lively carbonation and the full flavors add to the body. Taste is sweet, spicy, tart, hoppy, pepper, dry at the finish, earthy, herbal. This is fantastic, I need more!

UPDATED: MAY 15, 2007 The Lure:
Fizzy protuberances leap from the citrusy, green hop exuberance. Simple, unadulterated hop glory in a body akin to Norman dry cider. And the head just won’t die!

The Festivities:
Lengthy leafy hops last until swarthy herbal bitterness subsides, at least a few minutes after the sip. There are some watery and milky passages, but they help immensely to make the hops bloom. The green wooden character of the hops melds with the dry haystack persona of the malts. Svelte body, almost too thin, and citrusy, pineapple fruitiness help assure a pleasurable quaff.

Transcendence:
A hopoholic’s brunch.

NB: The hops fade rather quickly, leaving too much room for the yeast. Not as dry and gripping then, but still a fine pint.