The Brasserie de Blaugies is a tiny husband and wife operation in the small rural town of Blaugies in southern Belgium. The wife brews the beer in a tiny brewery in the garage of their farm house while the husband tends to the business of the brewery. They produce a number of traditional Belgian farmhouse ales including Saison d’Epeautre, a saison brewed with spelt, and Darbyste, a saison brewed with fig juice. The Darbyste is said to be named after the 19th century Irish cleric John Darby, founder of the Plymouth Brethren and so-called father of dispensationalism. According to their website: “A traditional style named for John Darby, preacher of temperance whose parishioners were oddly moved by a ‘soft drink’ they insisted was just fig juice . . .”  Here’s my notes.

Darbyste
Brasserie de Blaugies, Blaugies, Belgium
Style: Saison with Fig Juice
Serving Style: 750 ml Bottle

Aroma: Pronounced leathery and horsey brettanomyces funk. Spicy black pepper and soft sweet grainy malt. Spritzy lemon fruitiness.
Appearance: Orange colored and lightly cloudy. Big, fluffy, off-white head that lasted a good long time.
Flavor: Cidery pear and apple combined with bright lemony citrus fruit. The fruit character was enhanced by a fairly pronounced acetic sourness. Horsey brettanomyces funk. Nice wheaty bready malt still remained and gave the beer a bit of sweetness. Finish exceptionally dry with lingering pepper and clove spice. Fig makes only the faintest impression.
Mouthfeel: Very high carbonation and very dry finish just barley balanced by a malty creaminess.
Overall Impression: This was a bottle that had been sitting in my cellar for over a year. I think the wild beasties had done some developing as this beer tasted dramatically more funky than an earlier example I tried. But I’m not complaining. This was a bit like a lambic with an unusual amount of remaining malt flavor and chewy richness. Loved the fruit. Loved the funk. Loved the fullness.