Lakefront Rendezvous Ale (Coquette Cafe)

Brewed by Lakefront Brewery
Style: Bière de Garde
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

Amber color with a smaller off white head. Mild balsamic vinegar aroma, with background of caramel, light yeast and light berries. Medium feel, but some big bubbles burst off the tongue. Lightly yeasty start with some mild acidity. Quite sweet in the middle with lost of caramel and a bit of fruit. Finish is rather bitter with some grassy notes, which seem to be popular among the ratings.

On tap at the brewery. Pours very nice orange red color with a nice white head. Wonderful aroma of sweet malt and pungent grassy hops...excellent balance in the aroma. Flavor to match...perfect balance of sweet malt and hoppy bite, quite rich body. A very good beer.

On tap at Coquette Cafe, served by an authentic French person. Has a full and somewhat lasting white creamy head. Clear and bright amber... attractive beer. Not much picked up in aroma, unfortunately. Some grassy hops. The flavor seems predominantly sweet grassy hops (DavidP is copying me). Its like a dry grassy hop palate, covered by this sweet wheatie (the cereal) backbone. Pretty good. Surprising selection from Lakefront.

On tap at the Coquette. Big fluffy white head over a clear rusty-amber body. Lightly roasted malt aroma with stemmy-sweet grassy hops. The flavor starts with light caramel and flower petal sweetness, finishes with that same grassy bitterness. This beer is very different from the rest of Lakefront’s lineup but not that great in the world of biere de gardes.

Like all of Lakefront Brewery’s beers, this one lives up to the hype. The Roundezvous Ale is brewed especially for Coquette Cafe - a restaurant in downtown Milwaukee with some unbelievable food - and thus is only available (to my knowledge) on tap at Coquette. What about the beer? To start, it’s golden brown, almost like a Vienna or Lakefront’s own Riverwest Stein. On the other hand, it’s a little more robust and sweeter so that it can be a perfect match with Coquette’s food. When it hits the tounge, it’s very bright - lively and fizzy. Semi-sweet and a tad acidic, a fair amount of hops makes this brew dance in your mouth, and the finish leaves a smile on your face. To put it simply, it’s not like most beers out there, but at all stages of drinking the beer, you know you’re drinking a good brew. And, you’ll probably do it again, should you get that chance.