Abbaye de St Landelin La Divine

Brewed by Les Brasseurs De Gayant
Style: Bière de Garde
Douai, France

I found this far more interesting than the posted ratings would suggest. Big head, no doubt because of the wheat content. Lovely golden color with a fluffy white head. Nose and taste of yeast. Some complex spiciness ... either due to the yeast producing a traditional wheat clove note, or due to the addition of spices. Serious notes of oak as well. Enjoyable despite the restaurant price of $28.

Sample with friends at the brewclub’s Teach A Friend To Brew meet 11/8/2009. Clear dark amber beer with light sweet caramel malt and bready aroma. Flavor was sweet malt and caramel, spicy, and with a little grassy hops. Good but not memorable.

33 cL bottle. Pours clear and golden yellow with a small white head. Spiced, slight yeasty. Phenolic and slight sweet. Vague fruity and towards a dry phenolic finish. Lingering caramelish touch.

Bottle, 8.5%. Sweetish caramelly aroma. Clear dark golden colour. Very small white head. Mildly sweet flavour. Rough, but nice hop flavour. OK aroma hop notes as well.

poured with an off white huge foamy frothy textured head and a boat load of lace. Color is a slightly hazy medium to light amber. Aroma is yeasty, malty, a bit hoppy sweet. Flavor’s about the same. Body is quite thin but ok carbonation. Not bad beer all in all. Finish is nice. Would have again.

bottle bb 5/28/09 sampled 11/5/09. pours a dirty dirty blonde color... surprisingly clear. it’s capped by a small white head which leaves behind some random spotty dots of foam. it smells rather dirty (or dusty) as well... combined with pale malt sweetness, apples, cocoa butter/white chocolate and pumpkin pie-like spices (nutmeg mostly). the flavor pretty much mirrors the aroma’s notes... still, really dusty, dirty and apple-y. the palate is a touch on the sweet side but seems to dry off nicely when it meets up with some hoppy bitterness on the finish. a soft airy texture gives the medium body a sort of... tingly mouth feel (probably the best component of the beer). it’s not a great beer (bdg?) but it is a decent spiced blonde... 6/3/6/4/13/3.2

750ml Bottle: Aroma of grains, honey, malts, and light yeast. Poured amber in color with a medium to large-sized, creamy, rocky, off-white head that diminished but lasted throughout. Clear. Lightly sparkling. Several small particles throughout. Good lacing. Flavor is slightly sweet. Tastes of grains, yeast, light pale malt, and light honey. Medium body. Thinish, dry texture. Average carbonation. Lightly sweet, grain, honey, and yeast finish is dry. Quite boring. 8.5%ABV is totally hidden.

25cL bottle. I kind of expected good things from this beer; abbey brewed, fancy name, 8.5%alc/vol, but at <3 euro a 6 pack in a French supermarket, that might have changed things. Fizzy orange body, small white ring of foam. Aroma is pretty rough; obvious alcohol, metallic spice, sweet plae malts. Full bodied, decetn carbonation, drying alcohol texture. Sweet pale malts combine with ripe apricot and start the flavour off well, but are thwarted by metallic spice and stale bready notes with an unsubtle alcohol to finish. Big disappointment!