Lovely lemon colored, clouded pour with a dense head. Excellent retention and some lace. Looks classically well-made. Nose offers a dry funky note, as expected, simple and requisite with the style. That has the potential to sound trivial, but as we know, ids far from guaranteed. The initial tastes are surpringsly bitter. There's a nice does of floral hops too. I was expecting the bitterness to back off a bit as the funky notes cut in, but if I'm honest they didn't. The funk element lingers,...
Notes on beers brewed by
Brasserie De La Senne / De Zenne Brouwerij
Saison van
Bruxellensis
Local Brett Beer
33cl bottle, imported from Belgium. Orange, hazed pour with a modest head. Nice retention but not a great deal of lace. Nose is immediately apparent with a serious dose of funk right off the bat. A touch of white pepper up front, but it's mainly a a funky cheese note. Big cheesy funk in the tastes too, but the beer is surprisingly light to drink. Very light on its feet in fact. The funk brings some lovely residual bitterness that turns into hoppy burps, and a dry, satisfying bitter aftertaste....
Ameriken
Pis
33cl bottle. Recently shipped in from Belgium. A complex collaboration between La Senne and Perennial, Yazoo, Little Animals, Keeping Together, Off Color and Somewhere Else Beer Project. Beautiful, deep orange golden color. Medium head, that has a bone-white color with tremendous lace. Light stickiness to it. Plenty of sweet hops on the nose. It immediately reminds me of an old style, DIPA from the West Coast (please note I'm not using the horrible, dumb term 'WCIPA'). Perfect balance in the...
Jester
Zinne
Brewed May 18th 2016. Barrel-aged Saison, bottle-conditioned. Bottled on 7th, August 2017, Best Before 7th August 2019. Well, it is what it is. Brewed in 2016, this is likely a minimum of three, maybe more, years past its best. That didn't stop me buying it late in 2022 when I saw the last bottle, hanging out, lonely on a shelf. Happy to take a punt on a beer brewed by these two guys, full in the knowledge that this likely won't be good/great/drinkable. Pour is quite acceptable in terms of...
De La Senne
Taras Boulba
Hazed, honey colored pour. Fantastic head, white, high and sticky with lace and persistent. Looks great. The light balance of this beer is second to none. Bitterness is there, but it is so very tempered with a fantastic, creamy body and the light Belgian malts that hold the whole beer together. Tempered alcohol, and then the dry, quite astringent bitterness, that could feel American In its aggression, BUT because the beer is so balanced you just don't view it in the same way. Mouthfeel and...
Saison du Meyboom
33 cl bottle, imported from Belgium. 2021 Vintage. Dare I say it? It looks a little like a NEIPA. Hazed, light orange body with a fluffy, large head that creates decent lace and retention. Nose offers some light hops, and a grassy freshness that feels lightly rustic. Very slight soapy bitterness, and a little light citrus, but not much. Finish is pleasingly, lightly bitter. It’s very soft, light, and airy. The beer opens up on warming with further orange experiences, including a touch of zest...
X-Mas Zinnebir
330 mL bottle from Green's on Buford, Atlanta, GA, USA. $3.99 for the chance to try this. Errr....Belgian Pale (as per current BA db designation), NO. Much more like a Brune. Head and lace a quite poor and the body is a chestnut, deep brown. Nose has a lot if peppery yeast. Lots of pear and pineapple in the taste (along with a few other esters) which give the impression that the beer is going to be very fruity, however the character changes right at the end and in the finish and aftertaste....
Equinox
750 mL capped and corked from Duke's package up on US-41 in Marietta, GA, USA. Green, heavy glass with a champagne dimpled bottom. Dark brown, hazy pour with a decent amount of head and lace. VERY Dubbel like as opposed to BSDA, and lacks the sweetness and fruity nature of a typical beer from the style. Lots of yeast sediment in the final pour from the bottle. Quite bland in the grand scheme of things and lacks any winter spice element or significant Belgian yeast tastes. Distinct lack of...