New Belgium Biere De Mars

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Bière de Garde
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

From the bottle.

Pours a hazy gold. This beer comes off like a caricature of why many people don’t like saisons. The aroma is grassy, some lemon, a bit of grapefruit, musty basement, stables, and funky outhouse. The flavor is all of the above, with the emphasis on the stables, basement, and outhouse, albeit with a bitter hop finish that unfortunately comes off medicinal than anything.

I can’t find much to recommend this beer compared with the other saisons that I’ve tasted, and as such I don’t understand many of the ratings I see here. Perhaps as "sethdude" suggests in his Dec 2005 rating, the 2005 has taken a decided turn for the worse. In any event, I had to follow this one with a scotch chaser.

22 oz bottle courtesy of Binnys South Loop and shared with a couple friends. Pours a well carbonated sunshine amber, decent white head that laces pretty well, fairly lively carbonated body. Aromas throw a combo of belgian yeast, a touch of spice, vanilla and honey. Initial is a bit floral, a bit funky but that doesn’t play a huge role. Vanilla, honey, belgian yeasty spice.. Flowers. Light, a touch of cinnamon, clove. Finishes dry, lightly bitter. Underlying sweetness and spice sticks to the palate. A decent effort, just a strange mishmash of styles for me.

Aroma is big on ginger, touch of orange peel, lemon, sour funk. Pours a lightly cloudy pure orange color with little head. Taste is a mix of sour and bitter.

May 2007 - Beer pours looking like an orangey iced-tea, little head no lacing. Slight barnyard funk aroma. Flavor was watery barnyard...lots of different "funks" in there and a lot of spices (coriander?). Too spicey for my liking and a weird citrus tartiness that wasn’t pleasant. Not nearly as good as the regular NB Saison.

on tap at the ginger man it ft worth, tx. poured gold with a white head and some nice lacing. aroma of honey, soured citrus, and some funk. flavor was soured peach, flowers, and ginger- thanks to boomer0813 for pointing that out. medium-full body with low carbonation. pretty good stuff. i could drink this one all night.

Cloudy orange under a massive white head. Fresh yeast aroma, with a hint of citrus. Light to medium body with a refreshing flavor. Hints of peach, orange, lemon,and other light fruits.. Fruity, faintly sweet finish.

orange and hazy colors. nose of citrus and flowers. easy to drink with lemon citrus lightness and crispy watercress. surprising high alcohol for the flavor of this beer.

Orange all over the place, in the color, nose and flavor. Nice citrus notes up front, when it warms up a little, it seemed to have a little honey flavor to it. Nice clean finish.