Craftsman Bier De Garde

Brewed by Craftsman Brewing Co.
Style: Bière de Garde
Pasadena, California USA

on draft, strong ale fest, pizza port carlsbad december 2004 sweet aroma, great flavor

Holy smokes. Such an interesting beer. Highlight of Strong Ale festival here. Aroma and flavor were both very intriguing lemon and manrarin orange. Can’t remember much, but this stuff is damn good!

Draught at Lucky Baldwins, Pasadena
Murky brown in colour with a modest tan head. Sweet malty aroma with plenty of fruit and spice in the nose. Thick, rich complex flavor with a bevy of fruit and spice. I drank this with chicken curry and the spice and flavor still managed to shine through. Nutmeg, cinnamon, clove. Some interesting fruit notes as well with a bit of grape skin astringentcy.

Light, sweet flavors of fruit, spices and flowers. Very smooth with the 8% ABV not detected. This was delicious, I wish Craftsman would bottle their beers!

Pours a hazy amber color with a thick creamy tan colored head. The nose has a spicy note of clove to it that is joined by a nice malty background component, both of which make sure that they are not passed by. The beer has a medium-bodied fullness to it, at least for a Bier De Garde. The taste is quite spicy, I get notes of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove (dominant), and a certain sweet component to it. There is a bit of fruitiness here as well that reminds me of apples, plums, and raisins. This is definitely interesting, and I like how the fruitiness mixes with the spices, made more remarkable by the fact that there is only supposed to be a bit of rosemary in here as far as spices go.