Buffalo Bayou Peach Rotundone Saison

Washington

Saison

ABV: 9.0%

IBUs: 30

Packaging: Draft, 22 oz Bomber

I love saisons because they combine fruity notes, spice, and a bite on the finish, and Buffalo Bayou Peach Rotundone is a great example. They have other flavors in the Rotundone saison series, but I personally find the peach favor to add a fruity note that doesn’t weigh down the zest of the saison, which is so important but can be difficult.

Pours cloudy and … well, peach-colored, pink and orange like a magnificent Houston sunset with a gentle pollution haze. It was still pretty carbonated as well from the bottle, and I had to slow my pour into a trickle as the foam grew. The Peach Rotundone settled with a dense head on top like frothy cream on dessert.

But it’s not as sweet as it looks, y’all. The fruitiness was surprisingly smooth, considering it’s a peach saison and the website calls it a ‘peach bomb’. The peach adds that fruity tartness that is mostly fruit sweetness with a little tart on the backend. There are banana and ester-y notes, especially towards the end. I almost taste tangerines, but that might be me.

Saisons have so much going on already and brewers have to be careful not to overpower or disrupt that basic skeletal structure. Overall, the peach comes forward on the nose and then recedes into the standard saison notes–straw, carbonation, that pale ale bite underneath. The carbonation is medium, despite the bubbly pour, and most prominent on the beginning and the finish.

As I tucked into the beer, the peachy notes receded and the bite became more pronounced, but I don’t know if that’s my palate or a response to the temperature change as the beer began to warm back up. It hadn’t sat there long, so I’m giving it four stars.

I purchased this beer in a 22oz bomber, which is the only available size for bottle, but it is available on draught. The label has a peach-colored buffalo silhouette against a white background with faded peach imprints falling everywhere. It looks like tasteful wallpaper.