Bière des Sans Culottes

Brewed by Brasserie La Choulette
Style: Bière de Garde
Hordain, France

Bottle: Pours a hazy gold with a white head. Aroma, funky, spices, yeast and bready notes. Flavor, light yeasty notes, some funk, bready malts, floral and spicy notes.

750 from Once Upon a Vine, Richmond. Very handsome golden pour, with a lively carbonation that lasts throughout, and a fairly modest head. The aroma is also quite bright, with some lemon zest (maybe a dimension of yeastiness?) and definitely some spring-like apricots notes in there. As I began to swirl it around the ol’ Duvel tulip, though, the nose transformed and started to get all buttery on me. This particular kind of breadiness is something I’ve noticed in the style before, but seemed really pronounced here, almost too much so. A bit too sweet for me, then, but still a solid example of the style.

A cold pour produces a tall, creamy froth that lingers like a good memory. A fluffy canopy and snail tracks are indicitive of superb lacework. Colored w/ a golden beige hue. Aromas of sweet stewed barnyard hay, citrus pulp, and banana bread. Full nectar w/ ample soft cottonous effers. Bittersweet is my first impression. A rich malty backbone devides the day w/ a defined peachpit bittering component. Flavors are earthy and rustic w/ bread and citrus meat dominating the scene. Throw in some tropicals, brown sugar, tobbacco, vanilla, wild apple cream, and a bit of sulpher and spice. The finish is bittered peacefully w/ a lingering complex malty sweetness. This is a delicious brew w/ a very complex nature. Highly recomnended.

I guess I’m just not a big fan of Biere de Garde’s. Or perhaps, just not this particular one but honestly I’ve had a few now and none of them impressed me at all. With this beer, the aroma was really bready, lightly dried apricots and moderately sweet. Appearance..well, the first class was absolutely stunning. Crystal clear, huge bubbles a la champagne bubbles with a nice three finger thick off-white head. Mouthfeel was tingly but not overdone. Flavor was more bread, light fruit, floral (chewing rose petals) and sweet. After the first glass, the remaining glasses were well mixed with yeast sediment, causing even more bread to be smelled and tasted. I found it really hard to comsume the rest of this beer and in fact dumped the remaining amount out. Ya live and learn I guess.

Bottle, 7%. Horrible plastic aroma.clear golden colour, small white head. Blaaaaah plastic flavour. A little sweet drainpour!

Light and rather fruity. Also rather effervescent. The label is pretty cool I guess. The beer it contains is just okay. I didn’t enjoy drinking the whole glass...

Pours, clear, yellow, with some yeasty cloudiness. Fine, moderate, white head. Aroma is yeasty with some banana and vanilla, spices. Moderate mouth feel with a strong yeasty flavor of similar flavor styles. Rather akin to Ommegang Brewery’s style.

750 ml bottle. BB 01.12.07 Aromas of citrus, spice and light stone fruit. Hazy orange amber color with a decent white head that didn’t really stick. Medium body with mild, but prickly, carbonation. The flavor is mildly sour, slightly citric, lightly spicy, and something earthy or even tobacco in a small way. Finishes rather dry with not much bitter, just fruit and spice. Very mild ending. Very intriguing and pleasant drink. Could be called clean and crisp (by me anyway).