Gayant La Goudale

Brewed by Les Brasseurs De Gayant
Style: Bière de Garde
Douai, France

Thick white, frothy head. Clear golden color. Fairly complex but a bit light on body.

From a 750ml bottle. The large, lightly off white head leaves lots of lacing on the side of the glass. The aroma is earthy and funky with some moss. There is a lightly tart leather note. The taste has some tart prunes and finishes with salty leather. There is also a little bit of cinnamon spice. A decent brew, and very strongly flavored with soft carbonation.

750->snifter: Pours a spare, creamy, white, but diminishing head that exhibits fair lacing atop a clear, amber body. Aroma is of cookie, caramel, banana, and grape. The body is light, the texture is thin, and there is a soft carbonation with an astringent finish. Flavor’s duration is average and lightly sweet. Not a horrible beer, but given the price, I’d be hard pressed to try it again.

A 0.33L bottle from Alko shop. Hazy pale yellow colour. White fast dissappearing head. Some hints of grass in the nose. Slight hoppiness and also sweetness in the taste.

Best By Date May 2009; Sampled August 2008
Pours into my 25cl tulip with an almost four-finger thick, pale, off-white colored head. The beer is brilliantly clear and a rich gold color that turns to a bright gold color when held up to the light. The aroma is an interesting mix of spicy-fruit and malt notes. The nose reminds me of a perfectly ripe, sweet, aromatic apple that has a touch of spiciness to it. Grassy grain notes and a touch of dusty malt becomes lightly noticeable towards the finish. The aroma definitely smells more like apple cider than anything else.

Sweet tasting with an apple flavor to it up front that moves to a piquant spiciness towards the finish. The finish is a mix of esters, phenols and higher alcohols that produce flavors similar to white pepper, ginger, a touch of warmth and a definite clove note; the phenolics even take on a cola like character towards the finish. Fairly well carbonated which provides a bit of fizz to the texture that helps to lighten things up just a bit. The taste is not one dimensional apple like the aroma, but the phenolics are a bit too much even if they provide an interesting counterpoint to the apple notes.

Not bad, just seems to be lacking in complexity, especially malt character.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Poured a perfectly clear pale gold with 1.5 cm white crown. Excellent lacing. Smells of hay, celery, and some grain. Standard. The mouthfeel was slick with good carbonation. The taste is sweetish, with a touch of grapefruit, making it somewhat astringent. High alcohol content is warming. A touch of spice like coriander is in there as well. A good ale, funny enough.

A light malty aroma. Looks fine. Pretty sweet up front, some hops in the finish, and a bit of sour too. A decent beer.

Bottle, courtesy Tony at Oldsmar Tap House. Clear golden pour, fizzy white head, lasting white lacing. Big wheaty malt aromas, gummy, dry, carbonated, some apple, dry citrus and wood. Flavors of full wheat and some hay and grass, lemon. Smooth body that has a sticky mouthfeel, drinkable, refreshing.