Girardin Faro

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

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.

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.

On draught at Bier Circus. I don’t like sweet beers, so I didn’t expect much from this one, but the owner Patrick talked me into it. Glad he did. Wonderful balance of sweet/sour, with great complexity. Tops the Cantillon Faro, which I had the night before. An incredible experience.

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.

My first Faro. By far my favorite. Nice sour, tart, burnt sugar flavors. Very much appreciated that this was shared. Not to many in this style floating around.

Bottle 37,5 cl. (Yesterday @ KBW) Deep orange/amber color with a small white head. Aroma was little caramel, and lambic like, some sweetness. Medium body. Taste malty, gueuze like, light sweet - sourness. Good balance.

Sampled from a 10 litre cardboard cask.
Deep copper colored beer with no head. Very delicious aroma with a nice balanced sourness and tones of grapefruit and wood. Flavor has a slight sweetness at first, but then the sourness hits in. Dry and woody with grapefruit notes. Not as sweet as expectet and as most other Faros! Thanks Jacob Lövenlund for sharing!

On tap at ’t Warm Water, Brussels. Maybe it should be listed separately from the bottled version since it seems to be of quite a different calibre. Mahogny colour without the slightest sign of any foam. Sweet raisins aroma, reminding me of white port. Complex sweet flavours, predominantly raisins, vanilla, candy sugar and oak. More woodiness towards the drier finish. Light to medium body. One of the best faros around?