Brasseurs Biere de Garde

Brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe
Style: Bière de Garde
Melle, Belgium

Date: 10/21/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

opaque yellow, whispy white head, huge tart granny smith apple aroma, good body, lots of apple flavor, nice gritty sweetness, light tartness keeps it balanced,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 9/10
Score: **4

(750ml bottle) Pours a cloudy orangish-brown body with a spare off-white head. Aroma of apple, dustiness, and light herbs. Flavor of caramel malt and apple.

There's a lot to be said about such a rare and mysterious beer. It pours deep amber/copper, very clear at first, but just as muddy once the large amount of yeast is poured, Impressive carbonation for a beer that is almost as old as me makes up for a initially white foam that quickly dissipates. Aroma is complex, vinous, hay-ish with hints of scotch or cognac, appealing old cereals past their prime complements sweet caramelic malt. Hints of butter, diacetyl. It smells old malt basically. Taste is on the sweet side, lots of toffee/maple flavours with honest hints at wood and resin. Very vinous, but certainly less intense than the beautiful aroma. Once the yeast comes into play, it becomes drier, earthy with a dirty waters feel. Body is light-medium and creamier with the yeast poured. The bottom line is that this beer is a truly interesting experience that I'm grateful to have had thanks to Muzzlehatch.

An orange caramel candy factory relocated in a dusty barnyard...Grandma's baking some bread I think...Quietly, the yeast overcomes some of the sweetness and induces slumber with a shot of alcohol...A vintage voyage to 1984, thanks to my pal Muzzlehatch!!!...

Old bottle shared by beastiefan2k. Clear amber beer. Aroma is lightly oxidized and cardboardy but with a rich fruity aroma as well. Lightly earthy with a bit of sour fruitiness. Tastes sort of like red licorice. It’s lost quite a bit... very thin body. Lingering corky finish. Definitely showing it’s age.

Quite an interesting brew, pouring a clear amber color with a tall off-white head and some rather intense (but soft) carbonation. This has a funky barnyard aroma of hay and grasses and wood. Add to that the scents of caramel, dried dark fruits, smoke, toffee, and wet wool. The taste is quite malty with white pepper, clove, and a yeasty fruitiness. The finish is fairly dry with a hint of toffee and apple. Quite a complex and tasty drink.

750 ml bottle, a dusty 1984 model with a dry, slightly moldy cork and a label that was peeling off, the glue having dried up. My oldest beer sample! We (MartinT, Rastacouere, Simon_Patrice and I) opened the bottle, half-fearing it to have lost all carbonation, or to simply have worn itself out. But there was a resounding "pop", and immediately a powerful aroma, initially of strong tannic wine, emerged. Success! A huge gout of foam slowly crept up the side of the bottle, so I poured. A light rosy orange, with little head -- again, looking very much like wine. The aroma from the snifter was extremely complex: caramel, barnyard aromas, seville orange bitterness. Very little acid on the tongue; lovely well-blended farmy flavors, the yeasty swirl at the bottom really adding body and character. Pepper present throught; this is a fairly strong example of the style I think. Dryish finish. A superb biere de garde, probably past its prime, but oh how prime it must once have been!

Old 750 ml bottle likely from early 2000’s shared by Beastiefan2k. Thanks! I had this beer years ago in an even older bottle, but was never able to find the entry. Eugenes bottle was better from what I remember of the older one. Hazy amber with particle floating around thin head. Musty, old cork aroma, dank basement stale and mildewy chlorine-like funk with a bit of old pool toy that has also grown some mildew. Flavor is stale crackers, old crumbly cheese, mildew funk, stale bread, and a lame lemony tart citrus finish with more bland old malt- stale and corked all the way through but not entirely bad. Thin malty cidery and brown sugar in the middle with some oxidation as well.