Brewers Art La Petroleuse

Brewed by The Brewers Art
Style: Bière de Garde
Baltimore, Maryland USA

very nice balance with malts and hopsm much like an ESB but again the hint of spice and cinnamnon from the yeast

A great brew, golden to straw-ish in color, Nice white to off-white colored head, good lacing. The aroma was doughy, grainy, wheaty type scents. The flavor was doughy, grainy, slight funk, light fruits, faint funk, dusty cobwebs in the background. The flavor was well-balanced by a clean finish and musty-ness. The mouthfeel was moderate in body, balanced dryness, clean drinker. Good stuff, a very nice BdG!

I was able to sample this on cask at Max’s in Baltimore during Max’s Belgian fest. Pours a pale yellow, amberish orange. Aroma is malty with some candy. Initial flavor has the zing of citrus hops, with flavors of herbs and some perfume/flowers. Chalky in the mouth. Not bad.

Had the cask at Max’s on Broadway in Baltimore. Nice, but not real exciting.

On cask at Max’s Belgian Fest: Pours a hazy golden amber with a well-lacing wispy white head. Aroma of lightly sweet biscuity malt and grassy hay character. Starts with a mild doughy sweetness and lots of earthy grassy hay bittering hop notes before a drier finish. An ok Biere de Garde, but could be a little more balanced.

Cask at Max’s Belgian Festival in Baltimore. Pours a hazy orange amber color with a nice white head. Aroma seemed a bit malty, but also a little underwhelming. Some Belgian yeast action, but not much in the way of complexity. Flavor was similarly uninteresting an da bit on the flat side. A bit of off-funk in the back end. Decent, not great.

Cask at Max’s. Pours a nice hazy deep copper with a lasting fluffy head. Aroma is intense with lots of sulfur which turned me off right away- phenolic and clove with an ok malty backbone. Sulfur fades a bit in the flavor but still noticeable, pale stale crackery malt,s light phenolics, earbal dusty and earthy leather as it warms with a tacky dry cobwebby finish.

Draught at the brewpub. Dark gold color with a fluffy white head. Sorry Greg, but the aroma WAS earthy; toasted malt and some fruity pear-like stuff in there as well. The flavor was relatively hoppy, in an earthy herbal way, supported by a toasty malt flavor. Finished with a lingering light bitterness. I can’t say if this is a great biere de garde, but it had a good mix of flavors and its balance was pretty spot on.