Served at cellar temperature from a 500ml bottle into a stemmed glass. Light copper with a fine haze, the carbonation lively enough to be audible.
Saaz over a pils / spelt base, finishing at 3.8% with 16 IBU. The restraint in that grain bill is the reason the rest of it works.
Spend a minute with the glass before drinking, because the nose is the best thing here. The palate is honest and a little plain after that introduction, though nothing about it is wrong.
The whole point of a beer at 3.8% is the second and third glass, and this survives both. There is no cloying edge, no fatigue in the finish, and the hop character stays legible right through. That is harder to achieve than a big beer, and it gets a fraction of the credit.
The brett is present and behaving, which is not something to take for granted. Pineapple and old leather at the edges, no nail varnish, no wet dog. Whatever the house culture is, it is under control.
Against the rest of the saison shelf this holds its own comfortably. It is not the beer that will convert anybody to the style, but it is the one you reach for once the converting is done, and at $5.60 / 500ml it is honestly priced.
Bought at SAQ (in stock at the time of writing). Open a second one a year later. It will be a different beer.
Best drunk fresh, in company, with nobody taking notes. We took notes anyway.
