Girardin Faro

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

Bottle in Mechalen, north? wee cafe where we had a drinkl while we realised we had got off at the wrong station. Aroma is spitsery tart fruit, hints of lambic funk but sweetness getting in the way. Taste is a bit bloody, caramel malts stop the gueuze from getting through.

Bottle (From RBF07). Suprisingly deep colour. Fruity toffeish sugars mixed with more lambic like aromas. The sourness from the lambic is present but is mostly overwhelmed by the slightly artificial sweetness which doesnt always combine well with the sourness - producing an almost sweet smell of sick. Better than the lindemann faro I tried.

Bottle. 37.5 cl. Unclear orange color with a average fizzy good lacing mostly lasting off-white head. Aroma is light toffee / caramel, berry sweet and sour. Initial flavor is moderate sweet and finish flavor is moderate sweet and light bitter with a average duration. Body is light to medium, texture is watery to oily, carbonation is soft.

Bottle picked up from Beers of Europe at the end of April. Pours a copper colour with very good clarity, with a small white head. Aroma is a bit rustic and earthy. Taste is very pleasant sweet dark sugars compete with a nice subdued tangy sourness that sits just below, some citrusy fruits hang in there just to complete this fine flavoured beer.

Bottle. High white and flufy but lasting head. Hazy copper body. Weak fruity aroma of grape fruit plus barley malt. Sugary and sweet flavor of grape fruit but without aný sharp edges.

Bottle sampled on 3/12/07: Pours a clear bright copper bronze with a thin ring of spotty-lacing off-white head. Sweet toasty caramel sugar aroma has a touch of sweatiness and some fruity esters. Body starts slightly sweet with lots of fruity tartness and a drier, earthy, crisp finish. A decent, and interesting brew.

375 ml bottle, via Papsoe. Bottle 4 of a 4 bottle Faro tasting. Pours a slightly hazy brown body under a fizzy off-white head that left some sticky lacing. Aroma is pretty subdued, some light earthy funk, light fruitiness, a little candi/brown sugar, and some soft maltiness. The most Gueuze like Faro of the 5 I’ve had, with a fairly minimal sugar presence. The sugar that is there tastes alot more raw than the others as opposed to the more refined sugar taste of the others. The sugar just takes that acetic sour bite away that some folks find offensive about Gueuze instead of completely covering it up. Alot more crisp and bitey than the other 4 as well on the finish. Mouthfeel is quite nice, lively fine carboination with minimal stickiness on the finish. A slight acetic bite late in the finish. Clearly the best of the bottled Faros available, and easily the most drinkable. The only one of the bunch of 5 that I’d ever buy again.

Thanks to hopdog for breaking out this bottle. Stamped 01 04 on the cork... Appears a transparent light amber with a small, light tan head the quickly fades away. Nary a bit of lacing is left around the glass. Tiny amounts of CO2 rise to the top. Smell is of butter cream, caramel, brown sugar, light funk, oxidation, and mild cork. Taste is sugary up front, rubbery, fresh plastic bags out of the box(if that makes sense), and light brown sugar. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, slightly tannic of wood, a bit of a "yuck" factor with the plastic notes and junky garbage outweighing the intriguing wild yeast notes that are present. This is a weird style and I’ve got nothing to really compare it against. I’m going by my overall impressions of this brew.