Girardin Faro

Brewed by Brouwerij Girardin
Style: Lambic - Faro
Sint Ulriks-Kapelle, Belgium

Reddish amber color with a surprisingly big head with just the slightest pinkish hue. Good retention as well and nice lacings. A rather mild smell, restrained and easygoing for a lambic. You can tell that the vinegar and funky notes ad subdued by the sweetening. Still some vinegar, apples, lemon, grass and hay. Gentle funkiness as well. Some tart fruity aromas. The taste is also restrained and gentle. It lacks a little complexity and perhaps some balance but it’s still tasty. Nice fruity notes of apples and some cherries. Lemons. Mild tartness balanced by a well integrated sweetness. Luckily, the sweetness doesn’t have that candy-like feel to it that some overly sweetened lambics have. Restrained notes of wet hay, barnyard and earthy yeast. The finish is dry with a refreshing tartness, citric notes and a gentle grassy bitterness. Some slightly too prominent mineral notes in the finish as well. Moderate to light body. The carbonation seems a little off, it’s like the bubbles are too big or something. A very easy to drink lambic with mellow flavors and a restrained tartness due to the sweetening. Refreshing. All in all, not a bad beer. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Bottle, 37,5cl. Pours a clear amber beer with a big offwhite head. The aroma is sweet with acidity. The flavor is sweet, fruit and acidity. The palate is dry. Overall an average beer.

37,5cl bottle, 07/08 printed on the cork. Dark amber, firm light beige head, tight lace. Beautiful buttery nutty aroma, rotten fruits, sweetness, earthy liquorice, faint funkiness and farm house. Later on I got some Yogi tea and rye porridge. Flavor holds woody sourness, little old fruits, funk and nuttiness. Sugar cuts the tartness down but doesn’t really taste. Long earthy and woody finish. Medium bodied, strongly carbonated fizzy but quenching palate. The two bottles I had were similarly magical, subtle but so rich.

A nose of vanilla, vinegar, oak, and lemon detergent for dish washing. Taste is of oak, apples, metal and funk. It’s sweet and a little bit sour. Finish is dry. Hmmm... I don’t know what to make of this.

Aroma is a bit weak but of funk, citrus and vanilla. Appearance is gold/amber with big white head. Flavor is sweet with hint of funk, citrus and soap. Overall not an amazing beer.

Courtesy Glouglouburp. Ugly brown. Off white head. Funk, earth, stale crackers/cookies, petting zoo, iced tea. Medium body, moderate/light carbonation. Need to try more of this style.

375ml bottle, cork dated Feb 2009. Pours a clear reddish amber hue with a small head of beige foam. A soapy wash mostly rejoins the body, scant dots of wet lacing remaining behind. The aroma shows notes of musty, earthy, fermenting fig and other dark fruits, followed up by caramelized sugar sweetness and mildly funky, oaky tartness. There is a very faint hint of aged floral hops on the nose. Flavors are sweet-tart, caramelized fig and fruit soured by notes of apple cider and old, wet wood. Medium-light bodied, the palate sports a moderately fizzy carbonation. Overall, it’s decent, but like most faros, a little too sweet for my lambic tastes.

Brown and a bit hazy. Has an off-white head. Aroma of light burnt sugar, wood. Flavor starts moderate sweet, moderate acidic and finish lightly bitter. Dry texture. Lively carbonation.