This is a beer I’ve been wanting to put into the beer club for many years now, but haven’t got the timing right. You see it is actually a Christmas beer, just something very different for the festive season.
Decades ago, Brasserie Dupont thought to brew a special beer in appreciation of their best customers. They presented this beer to them as a Christmas gift and named the beer Avec les Bonx Voeux which translates as ‘with good wishes’ from Dupont.
Good wishes indeed as this is a cracking imperial saison. Brewed with a selection of Dupont’s best yeasts, the beer is given a longer maturation phase than their other saisons.
There is a little honey sweetness early on, lots of citrus and earthy spice, banana and clove, and of course some Dupont funk that lurks in the background waiting to surface as the beer develops. It finishes reasonable dry for such a big beer.
Drink this one slowly and notice the beer evolve and open up as it warms.
An Imperial Saison aged 6 months in Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels
A Belgian stout, full of roasted malts, coffee and chocolate
The classic farmhouse ale, and benchmark that re-popularised the saison style of beer.
A special annual vintage version of Dupont's classic saison
