Victory V-Saison + Chicken Alfredo Bake

Leftovers.   The food, not the beer.

Not Hennepin. Not Saison Dupont. Or is it?

Beerwise, I pulled out something I was sure would work, but didn’t:  Victory Brewing’s Saison

I have encountered two very different takes on the saison style: those brewed by Brasserie Fantôme, and everything else.  Fantôme saisons are all crazy earthy and funky, sometimes tart, and incredibly complex.  Sometimes using fruit in very subtle, non-cloying ways.  All others seem to be little more than slight variations on Saison Dupont, which is just barely distinguishable from a common Belgian pale ale.

Considering the history of the style, which involved Belgian farmers making “house” beers with a wide variety of ingredients they had around the farm, it seems safe to assume that Fantôme gets closer to the saisons of days long past.

Like so many others, Victory’s take on the style seems to be little more than a typical Belgian pale ale fermented with the Saison Dupont strain of yeast.  Which makes for a very good beer, don’t get me wrong.  It just falls short of the complexity and earthy/funky glory of the Fantôme lineup.

All that said, the matchup here was not right.  Although the beer was very good by Belgian pale ale standards (as opposed to Fantôme standards), it just didn’t work with the leftover chicken alfredo bake.  Strange clash.  A bit of that harshness I’ve encountered with my ill-fated malty pairings, even though this is not at all a malty beer.

Hmm.

Tags: chicken alfredo, V-Saison, Victory Brewing