Brasseurs Biere de Garde

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

Fine, fine beer. Golden in appearance with a medium head. Nose is quite yeasty, with some alcohol presence. Flavor is incredibly smooth, with a decent malt backbone, and flavors of cut grass, toffee, chocolate hints, and some good spiciness. Mouthfeel is remarkably light for such complicated beer, and it ends in a slightly bitter, slightly honeyish aftertaste.

My bottle says ’Malt Boulons - The Original Biere De Garde’. Brett aromas -- some horse blanket but mostly hay/stable. Malty hints of honey in a light medium effervescent body. Hmmm... this is special. Some unattractive floaties but otherwise very nice. Some aged hop qualities -- a bit of attic dust. This is delicious!

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!

750 mL - corked & caged (rusted and brittle), 1984 vintage: light pop with the cork removal is very promising indeed and the pours is even better: generous ivory froth of bubbles atop a red-golden body that contains suspended yeast and other goodies. Sweet, corky aroma that shows its age with a slight musty quality and doughy yeast. Flavour is sweet and malty with dark honey and a bit of melon. Flavour turns a bit sour with some iron and chalk. The palate was amazingly nice – good carbonation level after so long. A beer that held up remarkable well, and was interesting, if not amazing.

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.

Bottle. Deep amber colored with a decent head of foam that lasted a couple of minutes, leaving a bit of residual head that draped lace all down the glass as I drank. A few solidified yeast floaters made the appearence a "iffy," but that comes with the old and cellared Belgian territory. Nose was insatntly of pungent vinegar, yeast, must and sweaty horse. There's a stable smell to it that reminds me of the barn when i used to crawl up in the hayloft. Complex flavors--caramel, malt, clove, nutmeg, apple cider, and overall a yeast presence. Finish is medium dry and tannic. Really nice!

Re-Rate 12/28/01: Much better this time around. Large malt laden nose, some fruit undertones, orangey? Deep amber, generous head, sheets of lace that cling to the glass. Start is malty, semi-sweet, the middle full, acidic, the finish winish dry and hops are present, but not overly bitter.

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!!!...