La Bavaisienne Blonde

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

Golden with copper highlights, decent foamstand but not overly lacey;Hints of orange rind and cedar in the aroma, a little hardwood foresty too...plus GARRIGUE! Well, maybe...nice flavor, malty yet with a powdery (as in talcum), medicinal note, probably the house yeast and possible french hops like striessel spalt or something. A complex yet ultimately simple to enjoy beer, great new effort from this venerable and AMAZING brewery

Luminous gold. Thick, cakey froth deposits an abundance of intricate lace all over the lace. Dough, fresh straw, grassy hops and candy apples fill the nose as peppery esters tease the senses. Natural carbonation caresses the palate with a pillowy softness. Initially tangy and uplifting yet starchy, sweet, and doughy with a vibrant straw and fresh-bread malt frame. Hop character boasts ultra refined flavors reminiscent of honeysuckle and grass, as well as a clean and assertive bitterness which evokes thoughts of black pepper and aniseed. Minerally grit coarsens the otherwise voluptuously soft body. Elegant malts are squeaky clean and sport a vivid yet delicate honey-glazed sweetness. Yeast leaves its mark with a musty and plastery quality. Finishes with a scratchy bitterness which complements the minerals and accentuates the soft, honeyish malts which linger. An extravagant yet rustic ale that’s undoubtedly overlooked/underappreciated because of its subtleness. That’s unfortunate, because this is yet another brilliant example from Theillier, if you ask me. Now if they would just ditch the green bottles…

Bottle pours hazy and float ridden gold with a large very white head and strong lace. The head is so strong it feels like whipped topping when trying to sip the beer underneath. The aroma is slightly sour, spicy, and fruity. The flavor is, wow, so much happening here that works very well with my senses. The flavor has some sweetness that is nicely held back by spice and some bitterness that lingers. The palate is very refreshing, cleansing, and quenching. This is solid and under-rated. There is no note of the 7% abv. I think my new favorite style is either Bière de Garde or Saison. Yes, this is even more a pleasure as it warms. I can get more of this. This will be an awesome camping beer in the Minnesota heat...

Bottle via The_Epeeist. Shared at GABF 2006 post-party. The beer pours to a clean chestnut body with an extremely fluffy white head. Excellent lacing. The aroma is nice. Grain silo, light tartness, crisp, clean. Nice clean yeastiness. The flavor is crisp, clean cereal, and grapes with refreshing yeasts. Clean and delicate. I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Bottle (non-skunked at last!!!). Head is initially large, frothy, white, fully lasting. Body is hazy dark yellow, unfiltered. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted grain, bread), moderately hoppy (honeysuckle flowers, herbs, grass), lightly to moderately yeasty (cobwebs, barnyard, cheese), with light notes candied tropical fruit (mango/pineapple) and lavender. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Finally got ahold of a bottle (this being my third encounter) that was NOT skunked at all, and that has made quite a difference (if mainly to the aroma score). Beautiful juicy malt-and-hop balance that reminds one of the Ambrée from this brewery. Nifty Brie-like yeast notes. So yes, I have re-scored this as it "should" be, sans lightstruck retailer mishandling...though even when there was slight skunk in the nose, it still got a 3.5 outta me.

750 ml. bottle from John’s Marketplace in Portland, OR. Orange tinged gold pour with a huge, frothy white head. Aromas of grass/fruit and underlying breadiness. Seems a bit citric. Medium plus body with frothy, creamy carbonation. Flavor is quite spicy in a noble hop way, with a little fruit, and a light amount of pale malt. Very refreshing. Turns a bit maltier in the finish. I could drink this constantly. I could imagine this is what Westvleteren blonde would be like. Until I get lucky, I can only imagine. Finish has a hint of orange. Damn, but I like it. If Syd died in the wilderness, he likely died happy.

2006 bottle consumed on 9/30/06
Staunchly sturdy white/off-white head sits atop a light-goldenrod body, with some slight beige and light-copper tinges. Tiny bubbles course upwards in the minimally hazy (leaving plenty sediment behind) liquid, supporting the fully lasting head. Lacing proceeds down the glass in sheets. Can’t ask for much more in appearance.
Snappy phenols bound upwards from the yeast, as honey-filled pils malt joins the game. A strong shot of grassy, herbal hops dries things out, with white and black pepper lingering on the finish. The yeast is delightfully unique and characterful, just what I remember from the amber version. It almost defines a biere de garde, giving it that soft, yet distinct mineral character, light almond nuttiness and acidity and an almost cellar-like/musty band-aid character (borderline band-aid). With the minty, lively, assertive hops, it’s quite a complete picture in the nose, sporting a high strength of aroma to-boot. Neither alcohol nor any pils malt brewing flaws (DMS, vanillin, corn-like notes) are present.
Succulent honey notes, dripped over fresh, gooey baguette are quickly matched by freshly picked herbal notes coming from the hops. Dill and mint, oregano and parsley, whatever you want to call it, it’s dripping with flavor (and a moderate amount of bitterness) and certainly amped up from many of its contemporaries. Belying the malt strength (in the realm of a double pils), is the tight, invigorating carbonation that breaks up any palate fatigue (certainly aided by the hops) and delivers an engaging experience to the last drop. The extraction is wonderfully done and the yeast shines strongly on the finish, with notes of almonds, buttercream, strong, slightly bland minerals and plasticy band-aids that I find in the amber Bavai. No alcohol in flavor, maybe a slight, slight hint of butter.
Taken as a blonde belgian ale, or a strong pils, it most certainly comes off too sweet, though taken as a unique creation, in the modern, hoppy, quasi-Biere de Garde sense, it delivers a refreshing charm and uniqueness, or so I think.

9/21/06. Poured out of 750 mL bottle, purchased at Red Carpet Wine in Glendale, CA 9/14/06. Lightly hazy glowing gold with a gigantic, fluffy and soapy white head, transforming from a dense froth to a rocky, mountainous pillow but lasting impressively long. There’s a doily lace left behind as the head calms to a "normal" height, and a present-if-spotty lace left behind with each tilt of the glass. The head fades to a dollop after several minutes, and the lacing actually improves. Aroma is softly sweet and doughy, prominently yeasty with almost a pale nougat and golden taffy-like spectre of sweetness. It almost smells like a sweet pilsner (but not an adjuncty mess), suggesting noble hops and straw-like bitterness to round out the farmhouse character. Lightly acidic with a bold outline of lemon-cookie yeastiness. Even some touches of cinnamon that I thought I figured in there. The finish is medium-dry and slightly grassy, suggestive of unsweetened sugar cookies with traces of pepper and white smoke. The hop presence is strongly intact on the level of some double IPAs I’ve had, but there’s not an oily, citrusy or piney hint in the least. Just those lovely noble straw, grass, hay, and pepper notes. Again very pilsner-like, but sweeter and bigger, badder. Fluffy, frothy carbonation and slick-but-tangy (yeasty tingles) medium body that makes your mouth water just as the grassy hops and almost absorptively dry finish swath the tongue. Still seems a little underattenuated (if I may be so bold) with touches of sweetness that aren’t troubling so much as they are gently disappointing. Light and airy with an immense drinkability and refreshingness that belies its alcohol content. A great beer, and still not quite on the level of the "brown." If one of the locals around here offered something like this (and the only ones I could even see trying it are Pizza Port and Craftsman), I’d be dishing that out to all believers. Recommended to those same believers who previously enjoyed their bottles of Russian River Redemption.