Beer Review: Pretty Things Jack D'or

Pretty Things Jack D'or Saison

I had my first experience with Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project last weekend during a get together with some of my concert tour buddies. I enjoyed very much the Fluffy White Rabbits tripel and Baby Tree quad. I'll be doing full write ups on those whenever I get around to opening them.We don't get their stuff here in Maryland yet, supposedly they'll be here in the Fall. I recently opened a bottle of Jack D'or, their saison.


Right off the bat I am attracted to the insanely quirky label artwork. The blue paper cap label is reminiscent of the old tax stamps on liquor bottles. The label clearly tells me a lot about the beer, details which I appreciate. Style, ABV%, bottle date, batch number. The cap label had printed "Bottled MAR 2011 BATCH 23". The equally quirky story is a nice touch.  


I opened up this bottle and shared it with my wife. Mine went it to a Duvel tulip. It pours out cloudy golded yellow with a huge large bubbled fluffy white head and webbed sticky lacing. The aroma is of clove, pepper, yeast and a hint of lemony sweetness. So far it matches up with what I expect from a saison.

The flavor is the same the aroma, clove, pepper, yeasty, light lemony with the addition of sharp hop bitterness in the finish. There is not very much depth or complexity to this brew. It's a solid clean focused flavor profile that does not push the envelope. It feels thin to medium in body with a good crisp carbonation pop. At 6.4% alcohol by volume this one has a bit more kick than a session beer, but you'll have a hard time finding that in the flavor profile or mouth feel.

Jack D'or is a decent brew, but nothing I'd go crazy for. It's a good representation of the style without going too extreme with extra flavors. It's good to support small breweries, and it's easy to do so at the current price point. I was able to get six Pretty Things bombers for about $6 each. I'll keep a bottle of this on hand as a good introduction to the style and to craft brews.