Quatre-Centième Brassin Commémoratif
Served in a 750 mL bottle and poured into a snifter. A: pours golden orange straw, hazy, with a foamy 2 finger head; very good lacing. S: baked bread at the start mixed with a yeasty, cinnamon clove aroma, a small amount of candy-like aroma as it warms up. T: a very spicy palate to this, with a dominating clove flavor throughout. As the beer warms, the clove flavor slips back, and a bready, coriander flavor with a hint of orange is detectable. It does end on a fairly sharp clove note that dovetails with an alcohol flavor. As I taste this, the beer seems to fit better as a saison than a Belgian strong pale. M: not as dry as many saisons and Belgian strong pales, slightly heavier with medium carbonation. D: A good beer but not as easy to throw back as a Duvel or a Saison DuPont; definitely felt it toward the end of the 750. other notes: from a style standpoint this doesn't fit either the Belgian Strong Pale or the Saison perfectly, although the saison in general seems to be a better descriptor.