SOUTHAMPTON CUVEE DES FLEURS

“CUVEE DES FLEURS” - to be said with your pinky held high in the air. This is what it’s come to, folks. Hey, I’m not complaining. This corked and wrapped bottle arrived in the mother of all beer trades from a great American in New York. I sent him some west coast treats, and after a time, he did the same for me from his coast – Southern Tier stuff, Captain Lawrence, and this bad boy. SOUTHAMPTON BREWING is one I’ve only had limited experience with, most recently with their excellent tap-only FRENCH COUNTRY CHRISTMAS ALE. Their CUVEE DES FLEURS is definitely marketed (and most assuredly priced, though I wouldn’t know) as a limited-edition, “big boy beer”. It’s close to 8 percent alcohol-wise, and you can taste it – maybe even a bit more than you’d like (I was thinking 9-10% whilst ingesting it on new year’s eve with all my rowdy wild-ass friends with kids, all of whom were no doubt in bed by midnight).

That said, I dug it. It is a flowery, sweet saison, a little musky, a little earthy, and definitely a well-crafted ale. CUVEE DES FLEURS has almost a perfume-like redolence to it, and a strong honey taste comes through as well. Highly carbonated as well, with a pretty tangy yeast aftertaste. Yum. If there were such thing as an “imperial saison”, this might be it. 7/10.