La Bavaisienne Ambrée

Brewed by Brasserie Theillier
Style: Bière de Garde
Bavay, France

Holy smokes, the French can do beer too? I was pleasantly surprised by this one - somewhat of a cross between a Belgian saison and golden strong ale. Poured with a humungous, frothy and pillowy head (no vigorous pour required!) and lacing that formed thick rings around the glass. Mouthfeel was thick with definite carbonation. Color was cloudy amber with sediment galore (which I enjoy). The aroma was slightly spicy with some orange-citrus tones. The flavor definitely revealed a sweet, orange-flowery base with a bitter-sour balance to the finish.

750 ml bottle, generously sent by slob in trade! Pours a beautiful amber color, clear except for the plentiful floaties, huge fluffy white head and lots of thick lace. Sweet and bready aroma with apple juice, delicate spice, light citrus notes, hints of earth and wood. Delicious flavor, fruity and bready malts, gently tart in a floral, herbal and spicy way, a bit of orange and citrus in the finish. Medium body, very smooth with creamy carbonation. Liked this one a lot!

Le Bavaisienne Ambree, bottle 25cl. Delirium cafe, Brussel. O.K. this one is just as hoppy as an i.p.a., but doesn’t smell like that. Very malty brew with a good bitter finish. Tastes also very fruity(pineapple, citrussy) and resinous. Wow, good beer!

A mostly diminishing average creamy white head tops up a clear medium amber body. Moderate lacing. No particles. Few medium bubbles. Aroma presents malt being medium caramel while hops are moderate grass ... Yeast character is moderate fruitiness. Also, there are evident evocations of spices. Initial flavor is medium sweet . Finish is medium . medium to full body... oily texture... Soft carbonation...
[ Bottled ; chilled ; dates are unknown ]

This Biere de Garde pours a medium, transparent amber/orange with a soft white head. The nose is musky and lightly salty but strongly floral and somewhat fruity sweet. The first impression of the taste is that the malts are "dirty" and Denver-esque (perhaps this is yeast), but this is replaced by stong caramel-sweet hints and then the lightest hop presence in the end --some dryness and a light bitter. That is all to say that this is above average for the style, but it is certainly over-rated at nearly a 4!

Poured amber with a large fluffy off-white head. Aroma of heavy spices and grassy hops. Taste is light with a mix of some sweetness and some nice complex spiciness. Fizzy body.

750ml. bottle thanks to Dickinsonbeer. Murky orange/amber color with a good sized off white head. Really nice funky, floral aroma with some caramel and lots of yeast. Sweet, bready flavor with some caramel, wet hay and a stale cardboardy finish. I just wished the flavor matched the aroma a bit more.

From a bottle into a snifter. Beer poured a firey, hazy medium copper color with an off-white, frothy, mostly lasting head that left behind delicate lacing. The aroma has won me over to this style: The malt is sweet, vivid, smooth and clean with heavy notes of toasted grain, and caramel. Some miscellaneous trace notes of spice and dried stone fruit. No hops, and just a trace yeast note of cellar to ground the sweetness. The flavor is well balanced and infinitly drinkable—moderately sweet and moderately bitter with an average-length, lightly bitter, lightly acidic finish. The body is medium-to-full, the texture is creamy and the carbonation is lively. No alcohol burn anywhere to be found. I’m going to drink this all evening while I clean house and start trying to take back some of the nasty things I said about French beer after my first three samples of the style.