Moinette Belgian Ale

Brasserie DuPont, Tourpes, Belgium
Unfiltered and bottle conditioned
750 mL corked bottle
8.5 percent alcohol by volume
Bottled: 2/2006
Sampled: April 2, 2007

Coming from a brewery with DuPont's reputation, Moinette was an easy sell.

Whether its taste might actually depart from the popular Saison DuPont was the tough question.

From the onset, it treads its own path with fantastic results. Lacking the long-lasting head of the Saison, the Moinette's diminishes into a thin crown above the golden orange body almost immediately.

Beneath the subtly florid nose comes a body highly inflected with orange, herbal and citrus yet without the dry pepperiness of the sister ale. Moinette comes to a more nuanced, rounded finish, with a mild maltiness breaking through.

A sweetness curls in on the finishing bow; it's there, but never in plain view, and gone in an instant once discovered. You've got to hunt it down, exactly what complex ales such as Moinette the taste to do.

Thankfully forgoing the champagne-like bubbliness of the other DuPont, I consider this a superior ale, ideal for sipping on summer evening. Moinette's flourishes are mature (a year-old bottle might aid that cause) and don't punish the palette through the course of a 750 mL bottle.

Rating: 8.5/10