The Dominus Vobiscum Saison is a standout from this year’s LCBO summer release. Its inclusion is appropriate, because as a style, saison was historically made to be part of the summer rations for farmhands. It’s also light on its feet and includes many familiar summer fruit flavours.
This saison, from Quebec’s MicroBrasserie Charlevoix, pours a bright yellow straw with a good amount of head that leaves tons of lacing on the glass as it slowly dissipates. Those summer stone fruits — particularly peaches and plums — make a lot of noise on the aroma side of this beer. After savouring those (almost over-) ripe scents, it’s refreshing to be treated to a delicate palate of wheat, orange zest and graham cracker spices. It finishes on a lingering note of refreshing hops, pepper and a slight yeasty sourness.
Saisons fall in an interesting middle ground on the spectrum of beer age-ability. Compared with pale ales, which depend on fresh hop flavours, saisons do get better with time. But unlike high-strength Abbey triples and barley wines, they won’t age for decades. The sweet spot for Dominus Vobiscum Saison is probably somewhere between eight months and two years of cellar time.
This is a style with which North American breweries have felt comfortable pushing the $10 boundary for large-size bottles. On one hand, that still compares favourably to wine, where it is difficult to find anything drinkable for less, but the problem is that the LCBO now lists Saison Dupont — the widely recognized standard-bearer for saison — for $7.40. Unlike some other local examples, I think the Dominus Vobiscum Saison compares favourably to the one from Dupont, and I would bet on it doing well in a blind head-to-head tasting.
The beers from MicroBrasserie Charlevoix don’t tend to make it to Ontario as often as ones from Dieu de Ciel! or Trou du Diable, so make sure to snap up these bottles while they’re still on LCBO shelves.
MicroBrasserie Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum Saison, $9.90 for a 750 mL bottle, LCBO #333146
In addition to covering beer, new restaurants and food trucks for Post City, David Ort writes about food and drink for several Toronto publications including his own site, Food With Legs. He is also the author of the upcoming Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook. For more of his thoughts on food, beer and life in general, follow him on Twitter or get in touch at info@foodwithlegs.com.