# Gage Roads Special Releases:tripple And Saison



## sinkas (2/7/08)

Hi all,
just wondering how people have recieved these new beers, I beleive they are available outside WA now.
Its good to see a brewery that appears to be struggling find the energy to put out somthig interesting, one of only 2 WA micro's I know of that have put out such daring seasonals/specials

Does anyoone know if this is the beginning of a regular programme for these guys?

Had the Saison with a nice japanese dinner: pretty malty and heavey for a saison, in my experiance, but none the less very tasty and spicy, not sure if the spices are the result of using asaison yeast or seasoning the wort. 
Maybe a good winter Saison..? also at only 5.8% and not too unusual, most megaswill dirnkers can cope with it.

The Triple at 9.8% is yet to be quaffed.


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## THE DRUNK ARAB (2/7/08)

I am trying to track these beers down here in SA. Hardys Wines are the distributor here and have got my neighbour (who works at Hardy's) looking into if they have it.

Let us know what the Trippel is like sinkas.

C&B
TDA


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## Interloper (2/7/08)

THE DRUNK ARAB said:


> I am trying to track these beers down here in SA. Hardys Wines are the distributor here and have got my neighbour (who works at Hardy's) looking into if they have it.
> 
> Let us know what the Trippel is like sinkas.
> 
> ...



TDA: let me know how you get on, would be keen to try these too. I can't even find a gage road web site on _teh google_ so not sure they have one. I phoned Dan Murphys at Marden and got a "who now with the what what?" response so I wouldn't count on them knowing their arse from their elbow any time soon.

sinkas: 9.8%  ??!! bring it on! Please post back on what that is like.


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## Stuster (2/7/08)

Interloper said:


> I can't even find a gage road web site on _teh google_ so not sure they have one.



Try this. :icon_cheers:


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## Interloper (2/7/08)

Stuster said:


> Try this. :icon_cheers:



Don't tell me you found that on _teh google_? Searching them brings up no results at all? Perhaps the excessive use of Flash and lack of meta data keywords makes it hard to find the site.

Thanks for the linky...


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## Stuster (2/7/08)

Interloper said:


> Don't tell me you found that on _teh google_? Searching them brings up no results at all? Perhaps the excessive use of Flash and lack of meta data keywords makes it hard to find the site.
> 
> Thanks for the linky...



Ah, you don't have the magic fingers. :lol: 

No, found it through Ratebeer


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## Interloper (2/7/08)

Stuster said:


> Ah, you don't have the magic fingers. :lol:
> 
> No, found it through Ratebeer



It would seem my google-fu skillz have let me down today!


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## sinkas (2/7/08)

they are now distributed by VOK,


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## brendanos (2/7/08)

They are definately the most exciting things Gage Roads have put out to date, but in my opinion they're still a little "Gage Roads" or underwhelming. I've only tried them at a WCB meeting and at the Loft after a day of drinking amazing craft and home brews so I guess I was pretty spoilt for flavour on both occasions, so I'm still keen to give them another shot or two while they're out. They're pretty reasonably priced for the size/style/strength. The wax seals are making me consider putting some away for a while.


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## pmolou (2/7/08)

how much$ is it and wer from in melb that site doesnt have much info i reckon

but does look like an interesting brew


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## barfridge (2/7/08)

Tried them both the other night, they're average to decent.

I swear they both use the same yeast. The Saison tastes a little lighter, and is obviously spiced. Doesn't have the acidic tartness you associate with a saison. The tripel is just a bigger version of the saison, without the spices. It's a bit more true to style.


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## ausdb (2/7/08)

barfridge said:


> Tried them both the other night, they're average to decent.
> 
> I swear they both use the same yeast. The Saison tastes a little lighter, and is obviously spiced. Doesn't have the acidic tartness you associate with a saison. The tripel is just a bigger version of the saison, without the spices. It's a bit more true to style.


Like Brendanos I tried these both at the Loft and the last WCB meeting, I would say that you have summed it up pretty well Barfridge. I actually thought the Tripel was a bit sweet and underattenuated for the style. But then hats off to them for trying at least, for a company that entered a very crowded market with a "premium lager" and then a mid strength lager they have become a lot more adventurous in the last year or so.


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## kevo (2/7/08)

Does anyone else find the lack of info from Gage Roads a little frustrating?

I was only looking at their site a day or two ago - no mention of the saison or tripel - still tonight, had another look after seeing them mentioned here and still nothing.

I only found out about the London Best, New World Wheat and Wahoo in grog shop brochures. Maybe I'm out of touch? :unsure: 

People are keen to support these breweries and buy their beers, but it's hard to do so when it's so difficult to find any information on new brews!

Thank god for AHB. :icon_cheers: 

Kev


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## Beer Guy (2/7/08)

send em a link to this thread and hit em up for some freebies


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## kevo (3/7/08)

I sent them an email - reply says their website is being updated in the next month and that the two seasonals will only be released in WA.

No mention of free samples.  

They did send me a pdf about each of the beers - hopefully they'll attach to this message.

Kev

View attachment Saison_Tasting_Notes.pdf


View attachment Trippel_Tasting_Notes.pdf


hope that worked.....


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## sinkas (3/7/08)

If anyone wants a bottle of each, I am happy to trade for a botte of murrays grand cru and IIPA


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## brendanos (5/7/08)

FYI there's a quaint little beer shop in WA that mail orders beers around Oz...


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## Vlad the Pale Aler (5/7/08)

....and where might that be Brendan?


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## BottleBitch (5/7/08)

Nice to see some talk about the Saison and Tripple.

So as the head of team "B", I feel it is my responsibility to answer a few of your Questions. 

Firstly. No the Saison does not have spices in it, its all 3724 Belgian Saison yeast from Wyeast and yes it is a very temperamental yeast, I had a very limited production window to get this beer out and after 10 days of fermentation, I had to hit it with our propriety Ale yeast strain to get the job done, their was no way I was letting team "A" beat us, so I had no choice in that matter, it was either hit it with Ale yeast or pump the beer down the drain and admit defeat.

No they dont use the same yeast strain, the Tripple uses a blend of WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale Yeast and WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast.

Its funny at the 2008 AIBA, the judges all commented on that the Saison was very tart and too sour, when the style calls for it and I added a bit of adicualted malt to get this, for my taste the acidity is spot on and then for a lot of you guys on this forum its not tart enough. This is what makes brewing so much fun and challenging at the same time, trying to make the perfect beer. This was only attempt number 1 at making a Saison, so next time I will have a much better idea of how to work it with our brewing set up.

The Saison was great fun to make and I really enjoyed the change, I even almost enjoyed the two 15 hour back to back days of hand packaging these two beers, that was a real slog, but at the end of the day they look great and yes the price I feel is a little bit to cheap, when I think of all the hard work that the team put in, if you asked me at the end of the two days packaging I would of said they should sell for $50 bucks each, but if you look at what is around at your local bottle shop I think the $13 to $17 price is very fair.

And lastly yes I do agree with you that our website is shit, it offer very little information about things that beer enthusiast's, like you guys look for in a website, but wait till you see the new one, its going to be great with tons of content and I will be writing a monthly blog, if you have any thing that you would like to see in the website our my blog PM me please or email me at [email protected] 

Cheers and Beers 

Brett 

P.s. with the gas crisis starting to hit pretty hard, we have greatly reduced production, so the WCB's that I where talking to at the Perth Royal show beer awards about a brewer tour should PM me about setting up that tour of the brewery some time soon, as I have a bit more spare time and could afford you guys a pretty sweet tour.


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## randyrob (5/7/08)

$50  

ok i'll bite!

you could get 5 x 750ml bottles of saison dupont locally for that price or brew 50L of your own saison!
thats pretty much inline with dues brut des flandres a very sought after beer!

some nice feedback tho i do understand your probs with the saison yeast, the first
time i used it took 6 weeks to fully attenuate out and by the end i had 2 heater belts
on it to finish the job, you learn your lesson tho pitch big and let it naturally ramp up.

good luck with any future ventures maybe we could see a Flanders Red Ale or a Lambic in the near future?

i've got some bottles in long term storage didn't mind paying $13 Cheap!


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## deadly (6/7/08)

I paid $17 a bottle of each - haven't tried em yet but what I would expect to pay,anything more might be pushing it.
Saison yeast took 5 weeks on top of a 40 watt light bulb plus secondary for me for a 48L batch- too much waiting ....


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## Trent (6/7/08)

Hey Herbstoffe
Next time ya may wanna have a look at using the wyeast seasonal release of the french saison (cant remember the number - maybe 3726?). I have heard it attenuates fully within a week, and all the way down to 1.002 to 1.004, just like a good saison yeast should. It was maybe mentioned it doesnt need the crazy high temps of 3724 also. I think, IIRC, those that have used it said it isnt quite as nice as 3724, but that could be my memory going on me! At any rate, if they only give you ten days to get that puppy out the door, the French Saison yeast would be the one to use, and save you the hassle of having to pitch your primary ale strain - which may have gievn you a finish that is a bit sweeter than ya want.
Hope that helps
Trent


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## brendanos (6/7/08)

I've used the Wy3725 (biere de garde) twice and had it chew threw 40 gravity points in the first day, and a month more to get down to something reasonable. In general they are pretty tempremental yeasts towards the end of ferment, and you need to allow plenty of time to let the yeast do it's thing and reach a desirable FG. Six weeks would probably be great, though I guess in a commercial sense that's a lot of time to hold up a tank. Maybe had the gas crisis come sooner things would have worked out a bit better.

And Trent you're always going to have the punters saying your beers are too strong and the homebrewers saying they're too weak, so just keep doing what you're doing and we'll keep drinking it, enjoying it, then complaining about it!

In regards to flanders ales Rob, I think Brendan Varis isn't too far off....


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