Stone Dogfish Head Victory Saison Du BUFF

From Dan – I’ve been known to dream up beer collaborations, so for a craft beer lover, and more specifically an East Coast craft brew lover, you can’t get any more pleased then to know that Victory Brewing, Dogfish Head and Stone collaborated on a beer together.  Please read Stone’s blog to get the back story on the BUFF alliance created by Greg Koch,Bill Covaleski and Sam Calagione.

Stone Brewing Co. – Stone Dogfish Head Victory Saison Du BUFF – 12 oz. bottle poured into a goblet – 6.8% abv.

Appearance: Pours a vibrant cloudy yellow gold. Within the body you can see sparse rising carbonation, and sitting atop is a frothy white 1/4 cap of foam. After sipping, the beer leaves behind spotty lacing.

Aroma: Strong herbal presence: sage, thyme and rosemary, coriander, lemon zest, lavender.

Taste: While I couldn’t pick out the parsley in the nose, it was the first thing I tasted on my first sip. Big time spicy dry yeast, and a huge mouthful of savory herbs, metallic hop notes.  If Double IPAs and West Coast IPAs lead the imagination to some danky weed, this beer would certainly remind you of very herbal tasting bud. As the beer gets warmer, I would also say there are flavors of cologne or perfume. I don’t purposely ingest either, but have had some in my mouth by accident, and this really reminds me of that.

Mouthfeel: Crisp with prickly carbonation.

Overall: Even with the overpowering herbs, this Saison is on the mark for awesome dry spicy summer time drinking ale.