Oct 29, 2007

Saison De Pipaix

A couple of weeks prior to heading down to the beach for a brief, yet relaxing escape, I was down in Fredericksburg helping my father-in-law take down an old willow that had finally succumbed to this years’ lack of rain fall. We made relatively quick work of the tree and after a few trips to the dump to dispose of the remnants we planned on sitting back and enjoying a beer.

I was prepared for a nice cool pint of some of his wonderful home brewed genius, but due to the water restrictions in town he has been unable to brew. Instead, he opted to share with me a tasty Belgian beer he had been holding onto for a while.

He told me that he had found this dusty bottle in a shop near Virginia Tech on the way back from a work trip a few years back (I believe he said the bottle was 2 years old). Lucky for me, he decided to open it up that weekend. It was definitely a nice reward for a not too hard days work.

Beer Label: Saison De Pipaix

Appearance

The Pipaix pours a nice light orange in color with a fluffy white head. There was a small amount of cloudiness to it.

Aroma

There’s a nice lemony scent to this one. A couple of sniffs of the beer also indicate other fruits dancing around in the class, but it was a little hard to pick them up. Perhaps there was still some sawdust lingering in my system that helped hide the aroma’s characteristics.

Taste

Initially, the beer hits you with a welcoming tartness much like a moderately strong lemonade. It’s not jarring at all and turned out to be quite refreshing on this warm day. As the beer warms this characteristic fades a bit — instead replaced with a smooth apricot presence. It’s a wonderful shift that surprised both my father-in-law and I.

Overall

This was a wonderful beer. It’s light fruitiness was perfect for such a warm day, sitting on the deck after a decent bit of yard work. I’ll be keeping a look out for this one on my beer travels.

Rating: 4/5

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