Brasserie St. James 1904

**Aroma:** “Juicy tropical hops—lot of grapefruit and a bit of passion fruit. A bit of citrus esters maybe, but hops dominate. There’s a freshness about the aroma of sweet tropical fruit—pineapple and mango and more rustic _Brett_ flavors in the background.” **Flavor:** “Big juicy tropical citrus hops with a slight orange tang and hint of herbal. Fruit character hits with pineapple, mango, and gooseberry, but it quickly fades to a thin bitter beer with some harsher _Brett_ flavors and slight hops astringency.” **Overall:** “Big juicy aroma is awesome, but hops bitterness is way over the top and astringent, which makes this difficult to drink (like Malört). An intriguing concept for a beer, with a ludicrous amount of hops flavor, but the beer gets so dry and bitter that the original concept is lost in the final product.”

**Aroma:** “Lots of honey on the nose, almost mead-like, with hints of floral, lemon, and citrus. A great apple-cider aroma, with nice peppery spices, vanilla, and light yeast fruitiness. Spicier notes emerge as it warms.” **Flavor:** “Touches of caramel apple, with honey notes that are present but not overpowering, and add a nice sweetness. Stronger floral, strawberry, and lemon notes complement the pepper, spearmint, and corn chips flavors. Somewhat sweet-yet-dry saison that fades to a light, tart, bitter finish.” **Overall:** “Strong honey flavors make this saison taste much like a dry mead or white wine with the mix of sweet, dry, and delicate. An apple-cider flavor throughout, with notes of caramel, vanilla, and peppery spice. Bitter finish, but light and tart.”

**Aroma:** “A pleasant malt complexity with a healthy amount of yeast phenolic spiciness and noticeable earthy hoppiness. Apricot, pear, light fig, moderate toast, a touch of caramel, light black licorice, light earthy hops.” **Flavor:** “A subtle mix of malty complexity and restrained yeast spice and ester—very pleasant. Nice pear and date yeast esters with a healthy amount of pepperiness and noble hops character. The malt is mostly just a light caramel with a bit of bread crust.” **Overall:** “Good beer with moderate hops bitterness, dark malts, big fruit esters, and a rather dry finish to make it easy drinking. Dry, spicy, slightly austere. This beer would complement rich gamey foods very well—the dry crisp finish and pepper phenols would cut through the fat. Pleasant, but restrained.”