Saison Imperiale

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Nice murky amber to rust colored body, the head is nice and frothy upfront and settles to a thin cap that leave spotty but thick lace. Lots of thick chewy malts, with ever so faint hints of fruits, no earth or funk to speak of. Its not a bad beer but is this a saison???

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

A musty reddish brown colored ale. Beautifully robust, big off white colored, creamy textured head rises above. Good hang time. Settles into frothy film all over the glass and creamy bubbled cap atop the body. The nose is complex in the sour, tart dark fruits, citrus and yeast that make up this beer. The body is light but creamy. The taste is bold and robust. Sourness, tartness, grassy hops, citrus and a light malt sweetness all dance on the palate. Really a must try beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

pours a damn dark brown ..with great lacing .. lots of dark fruits w/ a touch of brett.. what a crazy saison... very good bitterness... love that slight funk ... good flavours, nice balance .. whats a yoko? ... abv well hidden .. an intresting take on the style, i recommend this to you my friend ..and.. is FrankTV funny? i can't bring myself to actually watch it, it seems like it might be funny, but the commercials for it are truly terrible,oh well, theyre wheeling away our dreams, just like theyre wheeling away those shiny machines...

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

A nice, hazy mahogany-brown with a fairly decent-sized but not too persistent head. Aroma is strong and malty, and has an overtone of fruit, mainly apple. Flavor is rich and fruity, sweet but not cloying, with just a touch of hops and hints of caramel and nutty taste. Finish is smooth and very satisfying.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This beer poured with a nice murky amber colored body topped off by a small off white head that left very light lace. Aroma is caramel malts and slightly sour. Mouthfeel is medium bodied. The flavor starts off with some sweet banana and other fruity flavors backed up by a grassy hop flavor with a tart finish.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

This one poured a light amber color with a moderate white head. The aroma is spicey with some citrus and dark fruits in the aroma. The flavor is rather sour with some lemons and raspberries. Odd I tasted that but anyway. The finish is sour and spicy.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Deep amber coloring - very attractive. Aroma is mostly yeasty malt laced with apple notes. Flavor had a distinctive melon note mixed in with the malt - yeast also present throughout. Mildly bitter in the finish with an aftertaste reminiscent of gingerbread.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours from the bottle a cloudy light amber color with a thick, foamy ocher head. Nice lacing throughout. Big nose of fruit yeast and light caramel-apple flavors with spices and pepper. Light carbonation, and a dry slightly bitter finish.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Pours with a frothy, three-finger thick, tan colored head that leaves a bit of a structured lacing pattern on the sides of my glass as it falls back into the beer. The head sits on top of a murky cherry red colored beer that shows an almost brilliantly clear, light cranberry color when held up to the light. The aroma is a mix of sticky, sweet malt notes and earthy spice aromatics. Flavors of buckwheat honey, cheap coriander, soft orange peel, clove, slightly woody (though more like hay) and lots of earthy spice / herbal notes. The aroma is ok, but really doesn’t have a bright, Saison-like character to my senses.

Sweet, with a medium fullness to it up front, the beer actually gets a bit cloying towards the middle and end. Sweet flavors of herbal honey and grassy grain mix together with the substantial green, but still earthy, spice notes that are most evocative of cheap coriander and grass. A light bitterness in the finish and a herbal / grassy (complimenting the same flavors found in other components of the beer) hop character provide a touch of additional balance. The earthy, grassy notes really dominate the flavor profile of this brew, but it completely misses the finesse of a Saison Dupont. Instead the beer just tastes muddy, flabby and out of balance.

A bit too under-attenuated for me; I like a Saison that is typically a lot drier than this, this is just too heavy on the palate. This also doesn’t have the piquant spiciness (yeast character only please), or bright hop character, either of which I would expect in a good example of the style. This is especially true, despite the Imperiale moniker, when one considers this isn’t really any stronger than most Fantôme beers and is lower in alcohol than Dupont’s Avec les Bons Voeux.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

A saison with an extra dose of malts. Its somewhere towards a dubbel with a sweet toasty caramel taste. Somehow it doesnt quite agree with a yeasty farmhouse lemony background........Its a cool beer still and i like it. It pours a glowing amber color with a big initial head. I smell some spice like nutmeg and wood like hickory........ Mouthfeel has some smooth bubbles. Crisp refreshing finish with a taste of fruit like red apples and citrus where some tangyness and a soapy hop bitterness comes out