Stone Berlin with Dogfish Head and Victory Royale Imperial Saison de Buff
Date: December 17, 2018
The Story— Many of America’s pioneering and super star brewers hang around like Sinatra’s Rat Pack – laughing, drinking, and doing what they do best to make life for fun for the rest of us. This magnum-bottled collaboration features the talents of three of America’s best craft brewers: Stone Berlin with Dogfish Head and Victory coming up with the really big and really complex Royale Imperial Saison de Buff.
See yesterday’s post for more on Stone’s “groundbreaking” series from its Berlin brewery. Those guys know how to have fun, but also know more about beer….”since Jefferson brewed alone”. Ellie’s comment said it all: It’s either a brilliant collaboration or… too many cooks. We decided it was clearly the former by the time we savored the entire magnum.
Saison du BUFF has a long pedigree. “First brewed in 2010, this citrusy farmhouse ale was named Saison du BUFF in tribute to the ad hoc coalition that Sam (Dogfish Head), Bill (Victory) and Greg (Stone) formed in 2003. Called Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor (BUFF)*” and they’ve done it several times since. It’s been a good spiced saison from the three breweries, but this imperial version soars above the rest.
The Beer— A big and rich body holds the herbs pretty well. There’s plenty of orange-tangerine and a slight hint of lemon zest. The full body reclaims the center into the aftertaste. Beautifully complex.
Value — As with yesterday’s colab from Stone: For us, very very good at the cut rate price of $20. For you at $50 a bottle, still probably worth the money. When they were bringing them out at Julio’s we struck up a conversation with a rep from Black Hog Brewery who knew his beers. We agreed that $60 a bottle would probably be the asking price and even at that might be worth a bottle or two. They’re brewed to cellar and are holding up beautifully after two years.
This week we feature a half dozen really good European beers that we’ve found on both sides of the pond. We make pilgrimages to some of the best beer stores in Eastern America once or twice a year and we also just bump into incredibly good beer in places we don’t expect. Not all of these are on the shelves, but beers much like them are. A few of our European greats are from places you don’t expect to find great beer as we move closer to publication of our European guide to great beer in “bad” beer cities. (Planned publication 2019.)
Next week we’ll begin our countdown to the New Year with a list of our ten best beers of the last five years. We’ve found them on both sides of the Atlantic and even a few in our back yard. We’ve been lucky to find some of our favorite beers researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night. Look for it in 2019.
About these posts: We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year. The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings. Values: “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.
*from the Stone Website: https://www.stonebrewing.com/beer/stone-collaborations/dogfish-head-victory-stone-saison-du-buff-
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