Tasting Notes: Brasserie a Vapeur: Vapeur en Folie

Brasserie a Vapeur: Vapeur en Folie (Belgium: Saison: 8% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy lemon to amber, loud fizzing head that bubbles itself to nothing quickly. The head resurface later, reforming as a small orange white set of bubbles.

Nose: Sour. Lemon. Musty wet oak. Fresh and wheaty. Citrus – orange.

Body: Bitter, wheat and slightly tart. Tart apples and squeezed orange. Very bubbly texture. Grapes. Lots of citrus and fruit sugars. Sweet middle. Still some oak and a grassiness.

Finish:  Cooking apples, lemon, yet strangely bitter and wheat. Vanilla. Slight candyfloss and white wine.

Conclusion: Back to the ever shifting saison style once more, and this is a fresh and tart take on the style. An eternally fizzing and shifting beer. The bottles image is very appropriate, brash, full of energy and giving the impression of perpetual movement.

Fresh and oak on the nose, tart and citrus body to a surprisingly bitter finish. Its hard to get a bead on this ever moving target.

“Is it any good though?” I’m sure some of you are saying.  Well its pretty good, not a classic like Saison Dupont, which for me is the epitome of the style, but this is  a far more lively and oak styled drink .

Good, but without the touch needed for the big time.

Background: Listed in 100 Belgium beers to try before you die, I had no luck finding this is the UK.  Eventually picked it up in a bottle shop in Bruges. I enjoy saisions but with the range of flavours I’ve encountered in them I have yet to become 100% certain on what is meant by saison style.  I continue my investigation.