Southampton Biere de Garde (French Country Christmas Ale)

Brewed by Southampton Publick House
Style: Bière de Garde
Southampton, New York USA

750 mL bottle (corked & caged, 2004 – sampled April 2005): loud cork removal and a beautiful pour: brilliant & fiery red-orange body with a tall, rocky and creamy light tan head, which persists without fail. Thick Styrofoam lace forms all over the inside of the glass. Fruity, yeast esters fill a robust aroma with luscious red apples, soft over ripe pears, sweet sourdough, dusty alcohol, and golden raisins. Elegant, velvety palate with orange zest and coriander spices most evident. Sweet marmalade covered biscuit flavours are more pronounced by the bitter hoppiness and well developed spice and yeast. Certainly a winner, possibly enhanced by the year+ in the cellar…Addition of the dregs adds an iron and blood component to the aroma, adding even more complexity and a perhaps a more traditional barnyard essence? Flavours stay fairly consistent, with perhaps a bit more bitterness and touch of metallic character. Worth the wait and a testament to perhaps how things used to be.

On tap- from shoreline beverage. Nice copper body with moderate head which leaves nice lace. Lower than expected carbonation but probably due to the growler fill. Aroma is woodsy and slightly fruity with some peachy hints. Flavor is also woodsy with some oak, sweet malts, toffee, and biscuit. Moderate bitter finish and is slightly dry. Good overall creamy mouthfeel and is extremely easy to drink. I didnt really notice the diacetyl that some others have noticed- maybe because of the bottle/keg difference?

2005 Bottle: Light nose, dark hazy copper color, tall foamy off-white head. Sweet creamy malt with a light toffee-ish taste. Butter scotch comes through too, unfortunately. Light dry end, oaky. Heavy body and a good balance. Wasn’t overwhelmed by this. Wondering if 2005 wasn’t a good year for them with this beer?

Bottle, 2005: First off it took pivo about ten minutes to get the cork off, while talking to the cork and swearing - I was smirking. This wasn*t as I expected and my assumption is that the 2005 batch is different from the others. Nice big frothy white, long lasting head. Wonderful brown amber color. Bubble gum, sweet candy nose. Malt taste in the beginning, koriander too but badly followed by a huge butterscotch aroma, toffee. As it warmed up, it released a toasted malt aftertaste and also an intense alcohol nose. All in all the butterscotch taste was really a downer for me and I have only read this in one recent rating so far. I really wanna try an older batch.

tan head, hazy copper color. slight spice nose, some hop and yeats. slightly bitter and spicy flavor, hopppy finish. lively to medium carbonation.

Pours tan with a reddish head. Sweet flowery aroma. Flavor of flowers, slight sugar, and mild grainy malt.

This was a favorite of the late night G-Lodge panel who sampled it. Biere de Garde is a new beer style for me. i enjoyed the sweetness and unique taste of this beer.

Butterscotch and floral, nice deep golden copper glow, large but diminishing white head. A bit too much butterscotch and bit too little nuttiness. A hint of apple in aroma as it warms. Good deep buttery sweetness but not enough malt complexity. Okay. Finishes slightly sticky. Mild toffee aftertaste.