Brasserie Du Bocq Saison 1858
I believe that I picked up this bottle of Brasserie Du Bocq Saison 1858 — named for the year the brewery was founded — during the opening weekend of the Gainesville, VA Total Wine location back in late May. It was one of a handful of beers that I purchased that day. It was also, by far and away, the oldest bottle/can I picked up having a born on date of 10/24/2015. I wasn’t overly concerned at the time as I’ve had saisons in the past that have held up over longer period of time. Let’s see how Saison 1858 faired.
Well, the beer pours with plenty of liveliness as evident by the stack of white foam that rises from the surface. It certainly looked fine and the aroma seems spot on for the style, though there was a pronounced lemony character that you don’t normally find in a beer of this style. And once the beer hit the lips, I knew it held up. The effervescent carbonation did a wonderful job of pushing flavors all around the mouth with each sip.
As I had hoped when I purchased the bottle, it handled the extended time in since packaging just fine. Saison 1858 isn’t necessarily the best beer of this genre that I’ve had, but it did provide an interesting lemony tartness that was unique as well as a playful and refreshing character.