Boulevard Saison-Brett

When I pour this beer into my glass, I get a huge while fluffy head with pretty good lacing. As I hold the glass to the light, I can see through the light copper/slightly orange coloured beer, but it’s slightly hazy. It’s probably from the yeast; there are a lot of small bubbles floating in the glass as well. However, the head has a lot of larger bubbles. Upon smelling the beer, I get the distinct saison notes. An estery floral note, which reminds me a little bit of a sweet orange, comes through at first, but then it’s immediately followed by a spicy/peppery phenol. I like the balance of the nose, especially because it’s more estery than spicy, but where’s the brett? I do not smell any brett, but perhaps the load of esters come form the brett more than the Belgian yeast strain. Anyways, I should probably have a sip instead of smelling it all evening.

Whoa. When taking a sip of this beer, I am completely surprised. There isn’t anything reminiscent of a Saison or a funky barnyard brett character. It’s almost as fruity as an IPA. I get a really sweet citrus note with a slight bit of a grapefruit initially, but then that evolves into a grainy, pilsner malt flavour. If I were drinking this as a blind test, I’d have no idea what style this beer was. There is also a slight bit of alcohol in here, but it probably comes through the beer is dry. The high amount of carbonation in the beer gives a slight acidic note which balances out the citric notes perfectly; its existence even washes the flavours off of your tongue before you have more time to figure out what the flavours are. Since the balance is almost perfect, it’s hard to even figure if there is anything more to the beer besides the fruity/estery flavours and grainy pilsner flavours.

With a fairly light mouthfeel (probably should say it’s aqueous), I’d say this beer is completely drinkable; even though there is a slight alcohol flavour, which I wouldn’t expect from a superior 8.5% abv beer, I don’t find it distracting at all. It’s something that can add to the experience of drinking a Belgian beer. Think about Westmalle Tripel for a perfect example. I really like this beer, and Boulevard Smokestack special limited releases have never ceased to amaze me. So far, I’ve had Saison-Brett, Bourbon Barrel Quad, and the Imperial Stout, and they are all great beers. Not too mention the main smoke stack beers are great as well.