Victory / Stone / Dogfish Head Saison du BUFF
In June of 2003, armed with a manifesto on freedom and flavor in beer, Sam (Dogfish Head), Greg (Stone) and Bill hosted a highly unsuccessful retail sampling in Boston. Undaunted, they vowed to prove that they were indeed Brewers United for the Freedom of Flavor (BUFF). With the unlikely help of fresh parsley, lemon thyme, sage and rosemary, they proved it in this refreshing saison recipe.
3.5
413 reviews
Downingtown, United States
Community reviews
Very good saison, lots of herbal notes like sage and rosemary in both the smell and the flavor. Some citrus shines through as well. Some cracker like maltiness and a dry finish. Well done beer, good collaboration between these giants of craft beer
Bottle to tulip. Overly clear light golden yellow. Moderate bubbly head, fades quickly. Aroma is herbs, herbs, diacetyl? Some bread, herbs, mild bitterness, moderate carbonation. Resembles herbal tea a little too much. Not really farmhouse.
Draft at the Alehouse on rt 50. Pours clear gold with almost no head. Smells like biscuit malt, herbs, dry citrus. Tastes like dry citrus, herbs, biscuit malt, and floral.
Heavy funk, some lemony citrus flavor at the end, a hint of pepper. This is a very good saison.
It starts off with the classic saison flavor, yeast, some lemon, and soft wheaty malts and then the spices kick in. There is a spicy hop bitterness and a flavor of thyme and what’s that? Oregano. Overall it is a light tasting beer that heavily showcases its spicy flavor. It works out very nicely. Perfect pairing for pizza.
Excellent flavors, great lemon peel finish with light spiciness with a touch of hops at the end. Excellent.
Poured from growler. Pours clear golden color with white head. Fruity bready malt aroma with spicy yeast. Flavor is fruity bready malt start with some citrus flavors. Finishes spicy yeastiness with light cloves.
A little to spicy for my liking but still a descent beer. Looks good but just not my thing.
Pour is a cloudy yellow with a large white head. Aroma Is very herbal aromatic. Like walking into a spice market. Lots of thyme, sage and rosemary. Flavor is more of the saison aspect with the herbs in the backround. Plenty of fruity yeasty esters with the herbs showing up after the swallow. Not your typical saison but I do like all the herbs added I only wish they stood out a bit more in the flavor.
12 ounce bottle. Pours a light yellow gold color with a small creamy white head. Aroma is sweet malt with notes of lemon verbena and sage. The flavor is more lemon with notes of thyme and rosemary. Malty sweet with some spicy hop bitterness.
Bottled. Slight cloud orange yellow. Lots of herbs and such. Slight yeast funk edge. Decent.
Tap at Butcher and boar with commonmac. Tulip glass. Light clear gold with small white head. Very herby nose. Resin and oil. The herb bitterness works well with the hop and alcohol. Really nice and just different enough.
Should there be 4 separate listings for "saison du buff"??? Too much alcohol and bitterness for a saison.
Pours a hazy light yellow golden color with white head. Yeast, wheat, light fruit , and grass on the nose; follows onto the palate. Light bodied. Finishes with a wheat note.
12 oz bottle. Golden with a light haze and a decent white head. Aroma is of straw, herbal, earth and light citrus. Taste is of black pepper, herbal, straw, and citrus.
Bottle. The look is mostly clear, thin white head, and golden in color. The smell is herbal, perfume, thyme, pleasant, maybe a little heavy. The taste is herbal, sweet, perfume, a little too much.
Bottle 2015. Light gold pour, a small white head with some coaxing, Nose is muddled spice and malt. Bittersweet. Middle is some smooth Pils malt, citrus and herbs. Finish is hint of sweet malt gently stepped over by some subtle drying hop flavors. Nice.
Tap at the Watershed.
Five years after suffering through the liquid sack of shit that was the first iteration of this beer, I both forgot the experience and was paying insufficient attention at the bar and failed to notice that DFH was involved in this one. Either would have stopped me short. But since some of the other Stone collaborations have been tolerable and the Watershed was having a special event around this beer, I ordered a glass. Terrible mistake. It brought back memories from the first time around, when I surmised
Now we know that DFH only needs a 1/3 share in the making to f*** up a beer with their wannabe-edgy "creativity".
Yep, five years later the order of the brewers and location is different but essentially nothing changed. The recipe is still awful, still some great aunt’s bathroom potpourri atop which might be something like a sticky saison, but who knows.
It was all predictable. I really wonder why Stone and Victory let themselves be dragged down like this. Even more, I wonder how Isabelle Proximus managed not to suck, let alone how it managed to be one of the best beers I’ve had. (Actually, I know the answer to that, but I probably shouldn’t say it here.) This may not be as horrible as the stone version but 2.4 I was too generous to it. I’m going 2.1 today.
12 oz. bottle. Pours a clear golden color with a very quick white soapy head that fades to a wispy film and collar. Aroma is big spice flowers like lavender and coriander. Taste is more the same with a nice farmyard saison coming through the end. Palate is thin crisp and fizzy. Not bad at all!
Golden pour with minimal head. Aroma of vegatables, lemon, citrus, herbal. Off flavor that detracts. Somewhat dry palate. The one thing that I don’t like is there is an artificial component to this beer, perhaps it is the spices used. While not overpowering, it is still present. Lower tier in the saison style, for me at least.
12 oz bottle poured into a Spiegelau tulip. Clear light golden yellow with a finger of off-white head. Aromas of herbs, spice, light citrus and funk. Tastes of herbs including rosemary and thyme, spice, light funk, some citrus fruit and peel. Medium body with a dry finish. Tasty herbaceous saison.
Bottle into tulip glass, hazy darker golden color with white head. Aroma notes of farmhouse yeast, pale malt sweetness, parsley, citrus and light spices. Taste adds bread, sage, rosemary, lemon zest, mild fruit, somewhat tangy, grass and light pine/earthy bitterness. Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, soft with herbal sweet finish. Can’t compare to other variants but this is nice complex saison.
Finally decided to taste the third version of the collab beer, after having not liked the other two. Indeed, these beers were a large part of why I initially shied away from saisons as a whole style, which was stupid of me but still.
Bottle->tulip. Bright gold with big frothy white head. A: tons of herbal spice, grains. T: herbs and spices. Too much spice cabinet buffet in here for me. Yuck.
Bottle in Brewdog Edinburgh. Pours golden yellow, nose is lemon, herbal, vanilla, taste is similar, floral, dry.
From a bottle, medium gold in color. Smells tangy and herbal. Tart and fresh at first sip with strong rosemary notes. Refreshing and perfect herbal saison.
same base recipe as the Stone and DFH versions, but the aroma was all skunk...and in a brown bottle nonetheless. flavor much better, but definitely different. not sure what they did different in the process, but easily the weakest of the three. 2012 release an improvement...still my least favorite of the 3, but better
Backlog rating on 8-18-2012. This bottled beer pours a small white head that is fully lasting, transparent yellow body, very little carbonation observed, and spotty amount of lacing. The aroma is malt, yeast, citrus hops, fruity, and spicy. The flavor is lightly bitter, citrus hops, spicy, herbs, fruity, sweet, malt, and has a semi-dry finish. The mouthfeel is soft carbonation and this beer is light-medium bodied. This beer has a lot going on and I probably missed some aromas and flavors. This is a Saison that is not your typical Saison given all the various aromas and flavors. Thus, it is worth trying.
I almost wanted to copy after4ever’s words on this as I basically feel the same way after reading his review. Halfway through the bottle at the moment and have this spice fueled sensation lingering on my tongue. The perfume basking while sniffing jolted some sensors in my brain to wake me up a bit...quite enjoyable...perhaps one of my favs so far out of this collab series!
Transfer from BA review on 7-4-12
Poured from bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a nice clear amber color with a one finger head of just off-white foam. The head has a good level of retention, slowly fading to leave a moderate level of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the beer is quite heavy of a sweet and malty smell with lots of fruit of peach and apricot as well as a bit of toffee and some biscuit and bready malt smells. Along with these aromas are some lighter citrus and earthy hop mixed with just a hint of lemon.
Taste – The taste begins with a quite bready and sweet flavor with the sweet being a mix of the lighter fruits that were detected in the nose (peach and apricot). A little bit of orange and grape work their way onto the tongue more toward the middle of the taste, with them being joined by a somewhat grainy flavor. Toward the end, the apricot and peach really intensify and mix with a little amount of an earthy hop flavor and some light hay, leaving a nice fruity sweet and bready flavor to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the average to slightly lower side for a maibock of 7.0 % abv. with a carbonation level that is average. Overall a little thicker body may have been better for the heavy sweet and malty flavors of the brew, but overall the feel was alright.
Overall – A very easy drinking maibock at 7.0 % abv. with a nice big sweet and bready taste. Well worth a try.
Bottle from notes 10/11. Pours a clear golden color with a large fluffy white head. The aroma was all about the herbs; sage and rosemary kinda stood out for me, hints of citrus, with some pale malt and grass. The flavor is much the same as the nose. A dry grassy bitterness to the finish. I thought this may have been as good as, if not a little better than the other two, but not enough to justify the huge difference in price.