Tag: Brasserie Dupont

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Featured Review – Saison Dupont

I have not had Saison Dupont for some time (past time) and thought that since November was coming in hot here in LA, it would make an excellent choice for our light fall and to compare the gold standard to other Saisons that I could find.

Easily pulled the 2018 emblazoned cork from this 12.7oz bottle.  Initial taste is heavily tilted towards the barnyard funk and leathery notes. A tiny bit of crisp unsweetened pear comes through lightly. A silken mouthfeel to this vintage. A bit of wheat bread in the malt.  I will have to take a look for the 2019 Avec and for any single-hops to compare.

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My Heart is Set

I don’t think this new collaboration between Allagash and Brasserie Dupont will reach L.A. But if I see a bottle of Heartset, I will grab it. It is described as “a robust saison bursting with classic Belgian aromatics—think banana, clove, honey, and more.”

And if I don’t see it, maybe I will finally re-visit one of those fancy Dupont bottles instead.

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#LABW8 – Belgium in Glendale

L.A. is large, if you haven’t noticed, and sometimes great beer events are held too far away for me to get to. Heck, trying to get to Hollywood from Burbank on a weekday to a 7pm event is stressful.

So when I heard that the famed brewmaster from Brasserie Dupont was going to be in town for L.A. Beer Week, I said a little prayer that the event would be in striking distance. It wasn’t. But then, luck smiled on me and my Eastside/Valley Beer Week plans. Olivier Dedeycker would be making a stop in my city at the Glendale Tap!

It was scheduled at 9pm but in beer time that means something else. I waited until after 10pm drinking the insanely good Deux Amis without nary a sign of the famed brewer or the other famed partner, Tomme Arthur.

Thankfully, earlier in the day. Tomato Pie was on the agenda as well as beers from Glendale’s Brewyard Beer Co.
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First up was the new Brewyard Perky DIPL coming in at 9.3% which makes it the biggest beer that the duo have concocted to date and it took quite a bit of work and first time making it jitters.  Initially I go watermelon notes but then there was quite a mineral laden bitterness that really followed.  Some beers don’t fit the style that they are talked of but this beer is a DIPL for sure.

To simultaneously ramp down and jolt up, I tasted the Sunday Morning Joe.  Which was grand. The light base of the beer really left room for the coffee to shine which it did.  More and more, I like coffee beers that aren’t laid on top of large, grand stouts.

Then onto the Tap where Deux Amis waited…
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…and the beer is just so good. The only review I need to convey is that if you see it on tap or in bottles, BUY IT! It has a Hefeweizen clove aroma but it is so smooth with an undertone of hops. Simple and complex at the same time. I amend my previous suggestion. Buy it. Also buy the dry hopped Saison and the “plain” Saison Dupont and invite friends over for a tasting.

I did mention it was good? Right?

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Sean suggests for July 2013

It being hot and humid in July, here are some lighter beers for you to try ranging from Hawaii to California and then on to Belgium!

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Maui Brewing & Lost Abbey / Lemongrass Saison 5.0% abv

“Maui Brewing Co. (MBC) is happy to announce their collaboration with Lost Abbey, using 100% local Maui raised lemongrass! Lemongrass Saison is a 5% ABV beer utilizing White Wheat, Oats, Pilsner malt, Lemongrass, Citra and Nelson Sauvin hops. ”

Lost Coast  / Tangerine Wheat 5.0% abv

“A refreshing citrus ale, Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat combines our Lost Coast Harvest Wheat with natural tangerine flavors. Brewed with a combination of wheat and crystal malts, and finished with Perle hops.”

Brasserie Dupont / Saison Dupont Cuvée Dry Hopping 6.5%

A dry hopped version of the world famous standard bearer for saisons. As the Vanberg & DeWulf website notes, “featuring the famous Triskel hop varietal from Alsace. Triskel is bred from the French Strissespalt and English Yeoman hops.”

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Review – Speciale Belge

The 2nd Vanberg & DeWulf beer to be reviewed is a very special beer also from Brasserie Dupont. It is the featured beer of the recently completed Philly Beer Week 2012!

“Spéciale Belge is a smoked interpretation of a classic Belgian beer style known as a “Spéciale,” of which Vieux Temps, Ginder Ale, and DeKoninck are three classic examples – though not the first. These beers have a wonderful and rather recent (at least in Belgian brewing terms) history. For the 1905 Universale Exhibition in Liege, the League of Brewers in Belgium devised a contest with the intent of promoting a genuinely Belgian refreshing amber beer. Up until then, the Belgians were primarily known for dark beers, and the contest was run to compete with the growing influence of German lager, Czech pils, and English ales in the Belgian market. Seventy-three beers were entered into the competition, and the winner was Brasserie de Chateaulineau’s Belgian Faleau. A little more than a century later, here it is again, renewed and – dare we say – improved, at Dupont with American input.

Spéciale Belge is a refreshing amber beer, slightly fruity with a lightly caramelized malt flavor, and lightly laced with smoke. Because of the signature Dupont yeast, this is a rather drier take on the style. There is a bit of clove at the beginning and the end.”

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Dupont expansion

One of my favorite beers is Saison Dupont. A classic saison that never disappoints. I am also a fan of the their holiday interpretation as well. Avec Les Bons Vieux. Now news is that more Dupont beers will be coming to America.

These include a stout, a pils and a blanche. The latter under the organic Foret brand. Should be interesting to hold a Dupont night now.