Girardin Faro

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

[Bottle, thanks JK] Pours orange with a light cream head. Aroma is slightly sour with apple and grape. Taste is similar but more tart. Medium mouthfeel. Long finish. It’s a decent beer, but nothing too special.

On tap at Het Warm Water, Brussels March 2007. Dark amber with a moderate off-white head that left plenty of lacing. Tempting caramel aroma with some yeast and tart fruit. Flavour of demerara sugar, toffee and the barnyard with a decent dry finish. Very enjoyable.

Purchased at Bachus Cornelius, Brugge, March 2007. I took the bottom of the bottle and this comes out opaque orange with a short, thick head. Well carbonated from the corked and caged bottle. No visible sediment. Interesting and unusual aroma with yeast and ripe cheese. Flavor is quite sour, more sour than some beers that call themselves a gueuze like Chapeau. Some sugar in there, but this is a gueuze first. A quality product like everything from Girardin.

Finally! I get to knock out my last remaining beer style that I have not tried. Lambic-Faro. Special thanks to JK for supplying this rarity. Pours a semi clear amber brew with a fizzy off-white head that has some good retention and lacing. Aroma of tart hard fruit, some caramel, a touch of green apple and yeast. Taste is tart, high carbonation, with flavors of green apple, barnyard hay and a touch of caramel. Finish is actually sweet than its initial tart flavor which make this a pretty decent lambic.

Belgian Beer #200. Who do I turn to when I need my rare Belgian beer fix? JK, that’s who! Copper color with very little head. Strong aroma of caramel, marshmallows and some sourness. Much the same in the taste, but paired up with some of that barnyard funk. Very sugary and sweet. Wow, damn fine.

Pours amber with some white bubbles in the glass. Smells funky with some barnyard hay like qualities. Taste is of artificial sweetner and has some acidity but not very enjoyable. The sugar really gets in the way in this one.

375ml bottle from Beer Mania in Brussels. This beer is highly recommended. This is the most well rounded Faro beer I’ve ever had. Dry, wheaty, and acidic like a traditional authentic gueuze, but the mild added sugar gives it a more rounded, orange, doughy flavor. Not as sugary sweet as some other Faros out there.

Green bottle, 37,5 cl, via Importations Privées Bièropholie, savoured October 26 2007; eye: amber, clear, light effervescence, nice almond head that remains, a bit of lacing; nose: sour green apple is quite present, light horse, sugar, apple vinegar, acidity; mouth: sugar, sour green apple, caramel, a bit thin, rather carbonated, light astringency, acidity is present throughout the sip but is quite diminished by the presence of the caramel, lightly sour, mildly sweet, medium to thin body, sitcky texture; overall: correct FRANÇAIS Bouteille verte, 37,5 cl, via Importations Privées Bièropholie, savourée le 26 octobre 2007; œil : ambrée, claire, légère effervescence, belle mousse amande qui se maintient, un peu de dentelle; nez : pomme verte aigre prononcée, léger cheval, sucre, vinaigre de cidre, acidité; bouche : sucre, pomme verte sûre, caramel, malt, cheval, vinaigre de cidre, finale en caramel, un peu mince, plutôt carbonatée, légère astringence, acidité présente tout au long de la gorgée mais très atténué par la présence du caramel, légèrement sûre, moyennement sucrée, corps moyen tirant vers le mince, texture collante; en résumé : correct