La Bavaisienne Ambrée

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

750mL Blue label bottle sampled 2/19/05 with Mkobes and Maibockaddict. Pours a brilliant, burnished copper-brass, with deep amber-auburn hues, a very hazy, unfiltered/bottle conditioned body and plentiful tan-specked-white head. Aroma of deep, rich, earthy hay, lightly cheesy, old hops and loads of yeast funk. As funky and unique as the aroma was, the flavor is what won me over with this beer. It starts out with a hugely yeast/cheesey, dough-like flavor, similar to the aroma, with tons of rich honey-wheat-like bread and malt flavor, rich malt sweetness and lightly drying yeast towards the finish. Caramel, sticky toffee and buttercream all grace the palate as well. Full body and a rich flavor that is unrelenting to the last drop. Low, natural carbonation. Perhaps just a shade too sweet, but it’s hard to critique this one. Fantastic, and a step up in complexity and flavor from my previous favorite (St. Sylvestre Biere nouvelle) 8/5/10/4/19
Early-to-mid 2006, 750mL bottle drunk on 11/3/07
With about a year and a half of time in the cellar, I don’t think this one got any better. Much less sweeter than I remember it from the last imported batch, and still that farmy, though not funky, character to the yeast. Not bottle conditioned, but still an immense, long-lasting and fully lacing head. Unfiltered, however, and you can certainly tell from the texture, which is mostly soft and with some spritziness from the active carbonation.
The flavor is both musty and woody, with moderate amounts of minerals and very gentle acidity on the end. Low bitterness, not surprisingly, at this point, though I dont know if this stuff is that hoppy when fresh. Musty, but very interesting aroma and a flavor that is full of sweet, chewy graham crackers and sweet dough, with honey and light apples. Great stuff, with no sign of alcohol and a high drinkability. Didn’t blow me away like it did last time, but it’s certainly a very stylish beer. Current score is from this bottle.

Beautiful reddish orange in color with a small and mostly diminishing head of white cream. Aroma is mostly malt accented with hints of toffee, caramel and fruit along with a touch of hops (flowers). Initially on the front palate, the flavors are fairly mellow and tame, until the mid-palate explodes with fresh fruit and dripping honey and caramel. Layers of velvety flavors. A work of art as far as Biere De Gardes go.

amber color with yeast particles and fizzy in the center. off white massive head that turns very rocky with strong overhang lacing. malty straw nose, yeasty funkiness. light sour aroma too. dry yeasty, malty flavor, white grape too. sparkly carbonation and creamy mouthfeel. crisp hop finish with a light spice nip.

Malty nose with bubblegum, golden color (somehow darker than I thought it would be), lovely off-white dense head. Good malty quality, carmelly with a long light bitterness. Very dry. Well done in a simple way, but a bit unexciting on the palate. (2004 Christmas Party, my #8, group’s #9T)

Bottle. A reddish golden color with a laced tan head. A light dusty aroma, smooth and subtle flavors. A delicate spice. Christmas Party 2004 ranked 7/15 (mine) and 9/15 (group).

Wow, this one was a gusher, I lost about 15% of the beer. Pours a darker, cidery amber with a whopping rocky, creamy tan head. Aroma has a slight gueuze-y sourness and a good deal of yeastiness. Flavor is very nice, notes of apples and spice, with some bold maltiness and a dry, hoppy, bitter finish. I randomly grabbed this, never having heard of it, and got a delightful surprise. Very good beer.

The deep amber body is topped by a voluminous whipped custard head that clings to the glass for dear life. This is perhaps the maltiest of the style that I’ve had to date with rich caramel malts providing the base of the aroma and flavor. There’s a good bit of apple peel fruitiness and the flavor is a tad sweet. The only thing that bugs me about the beers is a slight harshness in the lingering bitterness of the finish. But the bitterness seems to fade as I drink it, so it could have been something to do with the temperature. Definitely gets better as it warms.

This is likely truer to style than Southampton, but must say that after having theirs that as nice as this is, it was a disappointment. Maltier, darker, fuller. Nice and full bodied and pleasant with a lovely head and all - spicey, creamy and quiete enjoyable.