La Choulette Ambrée

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

Bottle. High and lasting creamy off-white head. Clear darjk amber body. Fruity and yet spicy dry barley malt aroma. Smooth and creamy nuts and spices mild flavor. A touch of pepper as well.

750ml bottle (One Pint, Helsinki, Belgian Beer Weeks 2007). For all the malt-lovers out there. Rich ruddy brown colour, and a taste to match. Sweet caramel malts are dominant, but with enough nuttiness and spiciness to make it quite interesting and not 1-dimensional. Did I mention huge amounts of malt?

Bottle:Bière de Garde a style never copied outside of France, in Belgium they called Saison, and just this good looking amber coloured beer with coriander spices in it is just great.

Caged and corked 75cl bottle; poured with an immense head of tight foam and a beautiful tornadic swirl of yeast-inspired carbonation. When an aroma can finally escape, it is slightly spicy and tart, not unlike a freshly peeled blood orange. The flavor, however, is much more full-bodied. This is very earthy with a brown-sugary base, and a viscuous flowery aspect. I enjoyed it quite much. (#2798, 4/15/2007)

Bottle says 25.04.07. Pours deep red/gold into a tulip. Significant medium head slowly recedes with slight lacing. Lemon aromas. Crisp with sweet malt and tart lemon battling it out. Fairly abrupt bitter hop finish.

Pours a slightly hazy dark copper amber with a small, frothy, thin-lacing light tan head. Has a dry, earthy spicy, semi-tart aroma with some light fruity notes. Body starts slightly sweet and caramely malty along with some spicy earthy notes and fruity tart balance. Not sure if the tartness is intended, but it’s not too overpowering and does hide the alcohol fairly well. A decent biere de garde.

From a caged corked 750 ml. bottle with a date I’m sure what it means, the unnotched date on the bottom of label with 14.10.06 stamped above it, a blurb on the back label, sampled at cellar temperature in a chalice. Poured a cloudy nice looking amber with a foamy, bubbly topped white head that settled into a thin bubbly, sudsy lacing. Aromas of musty, earthy bread, clove and spices, nutty, cocoa, caramel and a subtle raisin fruitiness that meshes with the alcohol. Good carbonation and a crisp, dry, velvety smooth medium-light bodied mouthfeel. A good Biere de Garde taste, musty, earthy spicy bread, caramel toffee with a hint of cocoa, clove and nutty, a light peppery, a subtle raisin fruitiness, the alcohol meshes with fruitiness and provides a soft warmth in the palate, and a dry musty, malty finish. A delicious French ale, despite the 8% ABV, an easy, smooth drinkability, well worth trying.

Drank in a stem glass. Poors a dark amber poor with a light brown sticky head. Aromas of a strong creamy scotch ale, sweet caramelised malts, dattes, prunes and a hint of hickory. Flavors are mostly what you smell. Good mouthfeel, sour twist with a nice long sweet bitter aftertaste. Elderberry flowers and star anise are added spices you can taste. This beer was brewed with obviously great yeast!