This past Monday night the family headed on down to Capital Ale House in Fredericksburg to celebrate my wife’s birthday. Her folks were going to treat us to some tasty brews and burgers. Even though we were there to celebrate her day, I couldn’t help but feel like I was getting the better end of the gifts.
Upon our arrival, my father-in-law had procured us the final two bottles of the Stone/Victory/Dogfish Head collaborative effort Saison du Buff — a beer I’ve been wanting to try since it was first announced. I’m a sucker for collaboration projects and was super stoked to finally have the opportunity to sample one from three of my favorite brewers.
Appearance
Saison du Buff pours a hazy, golden yellow with a small white head.
Aroma
Smells darn good with a decent hoppiness, resinous pine/spruce and herbal notes (a combination of the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme used in the brewing process).
Taste
Two words: damn good. The pine/spruce notes blend wonderfully with the herbal character that the beer carries. The hop presence adds a nice bitterness that is at just the right level and doesn’t distract from the other flavors. The mouthfeel is on the upper end of medium with a smooth texture. The finish brings out more bite from the hops. For a Saison, I didn’t pick up that much of a funkiness from the yeast, but the beer still had a distinct Belgian character.
Overall
As far as collaborations go, this has got to be one of my favorites. I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to try it again so I savored every sip. It’s a well balanced and tasty brew with a round of herbal notes that went incredibly well with the Belgian traits. I just don’t think I nearly said “thank you” enough to my in-laws for snagging a bottle for me.
Rating: 4/5
June 16th, 2010
RoyinVirginia said:
I loved this beer, and loved reading the various collaborating brewer’s notes about this project on their various webpages. Great time too!