Southampton Biere de Garde (French Country Christmas Ale)

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

Pours hazy orange color with off white head. Aromas of bread and caramel. Sweet flavors of caramel and yeast with a touch of pepper. Mdium body with a tingly mouthfeel. A nice bier de garde.

Growler into chalice. Pours cloudy dark copper with a big, foamy, long lasting off-white head. Nose is a bit bready, spicy yeast, sweet. Taste is sweet, bready caramel malt and candy sugar, balanced by a spicy, peppery bitterness with just a hint of tart fruit. Finish is clean, mildly bitter spicyness, and with a lingering big, round, yeasty bready malt note. Carbonation starts out crisp, becomes creamier as the beer warms, with a nice, medium-full, creamy body. Excellent beer.

Pours dark copper, with a thick, foamy off white head. Smells of sweet candy sugar, sweet caramel malt, spice, and a bit of funk. The mouthfeel seemed a touch overcarbonated but I know this is common with some biere de gardes. Real malty, with a decent little fruity presence. The spice character is subtle, not overly done and funk is there too. Fairly similar to a few other biere de gardes Ive had, but nicely done.

Bottle thanks to ucusty. Bottle marked best by 11/15/12. Love beer de gardes, and I loved this one. Pours with a large, frothy, off-white head covering a murky orange body. The head was long lasting. ARoma of caramel, pepper, and some spices. Taste of caramel, some copper and a bit of pepper and spices on the way out (finish). A caramel saison. Dry mouthfeel with light bubbles. Good stuff.

750ml bottle. Enormous difference from the first and second pour, as the yeast from the bottom changes the beer’s character significantly. First pour is a clear, dark amber. Big nose of caramel and butterscotch. Malty, faintly metallic flavor, a little spicy and grassy. Second pour is cloudy and the head has tiny little bubbles. Still alot of caramel on the nose, though more freshly-baked bread and yeast. Yeasty, spicy character, with a sweeping kick at the end, really earthy, pungent, and raw. Beautiful toward thre end of the bottle. I would almost like to shake up the whole bottle next time to get the yeast moving throughout.

Bottle from Charles Street in Beantown. What a beer. What a man’s beer! Dank, sweet, flat aroma of dirt and mushrooms. Flavor reduces that to an undercurrent with yeast, malt and straw as the topnotes. I was jarred by the earthiness of this beer but am now a convert. Dr. Fabulous and I see pretty eye-to-eye on this brew: a remarkable specimen of the style.

Almost perfect. Bit of the funky Bit of the saison. Overall, went down very nicely at the end of the night. Excellent. I disagree strongly with the negative reviews here.

Pours murky dark copper with an orange hue. A massive four-inch head of beige foam receded slowly to a solid skim-coat. Plenty of smeary lacework. Aromatics lead off with an unexpected amount of caramel malt. Hints of citrus spice and phenols follow through. Medium bodied and a bit chewy, with plenty of effervescence. Slightly coarse and grainy. Malt-forward on the pallet, with traces of coriander, bannana, nuts, and cocoa. Bitterness and alcohol are in check, and drinkability is high. Finishes with lingering caramel malt. I was really underwhelmed with this one. Tasting alot like a Dubble, and the spicing is almost non-existant. Lacking complexity and heavy on the malt.