La Choulette Ambrée

Brewed by Brasserie La Choulette
Style: Bière de Garde
Hordain, France

The ambers are the best in Nord-Pas de Calais, but this is not the best of them. This one pors a medium bronze-amber with a large, only slightly offwhite head. For a beer that is 8 percent, you’d never believe there was that much alcohol in there --yet the first taste is a bit strong and sticky. The cherry fruitiness of this style is missing in this beer and is replaced by a disconnected yeastiness and a pinch of Belgian malt-salt. That is to say, it never develeps into the beer it should be. At best is it a super-fermented malt-liquor tasting too much like a Belgian blonde.

Any first impressions?
-A quickly fading foam falls onto the rusted copper.
-A wet, farmy soil is tainting the sweet oranges and apricots in the aroma.
-Carbonation is very frothy, and expands in the mouth.
-Flavor is a direct follow-up of the aroma, with less dirt/earth thankfully.

What if you dig deeper?
-The vegetal yeast esters kind of muddle the fruitiness after a while.
-Minerals scratch the teeth.
-The sticky, sweet fruitiness might bother some.
-A fun product, but not cohesive enough to be very good.

Bottle; best before December ’05.

Medium amber, slight haze, pillow head, just a perfect appearance for a beer. Aroma of gummy caramel with a streak of candy fudge and the faintest hint of something wildish. The flavor matches the nose almost perfectly, and at the end some hop bitterness and yeasty notes balance things out. This was quite tasty.

Clear amber colour with thick off white head. Mild malt nose with slight toasted hints. Sweet malt taste with lingering sweet finish.

Thin off white head that shrinks quickly. A cloudy, orange-amber body. Cocoa, malt and licorice nose. Flavours of thick, floral malt and strong anise spice.

Pours crystal clear amber with a few leasurely bubbles supporting a thin head. Very fruity aroma with toffee and spice and a few vegetable notes. Spicy, earthy caramel flavor with some candy sweetarts. Big, smooth body. Finishes sweet with some floral and candy orange flavors. If it weren’t for the mild astringency and a bit of dirtiness, this beer would be the best Biere de Garde I’ve had. Still great.

Pour is a cloudy tan with a small white head. Aroma is a bit earthy and toffee. Flavor is almost like a dry wine. Very dark fruit with the right amount of malts used. Not alot of mustyness going on here unlike its blond brother but well worth it. Very tasty and a pleasure for all the sences.

Poured medium amber with long-lasting head. Nose was faintly of seafood and strongly of fresh malt. Flavour was somewhat sweet caramel with a warming cognac quality. Mincemeaty fruitiness. Very balanced and the malt had a lovely fresh taste too it. If I didn’t know better I’d say it was brewed just up the road rather than all the way over in France.