St. Sylvestre 3 Monts

Brewed by St. Sylvestre
Style: Bière de Garde
St. Sylvestre-Cappel, France

From a corked 750 ml. bottle with "ORDER N: 3037" on the back label and "14-15" on the cork, I have no idea what they mean, stored at cellar temperature and allowed to warm up a bit before sampling in a tulip glass. Poured a hazy bright yellowish golden with a foamy, bubbly, creamy white head, good retention, small amount of laced sticking. Aromas of clove, herbal, a light mustiness, nutty, hints of wood, sugary, sweet malts and sweet fruity alcohol. Good steady carbonation and a crisp, dry, airy, velvety smooth light bodied mouthfeel. I found this to be delicious tasting, balanced and with the dryness I like, grainy and sugary, vanilla, tropical fruity, mainly pineapple, musty and nutty, a trace of wood, clove and herbal, an earthy spiciness to the alcohol, the alcohol provides a low warmth in the palate, and a dry, sweet, grainy finish. This was very enjoyable, easy sipping drinkability, I’m glad I have a few more bottles of this in my basement "cellar."

Bière très effervescente, très pétillante, amusante en bouche. Rafraichissante se boit agréablement tout doucement.

750mL bottle consumed on 3/17/07
Not sure how old the bottle was upon arriving in the States, but it’s from a batch that got here probably in the late Spring/early Summer of 2006. So somewhere between 1 and 1.5 years old, most likely.
I don’t know what it is about this beer that so many people seem rather put-off in their ratings. I remember 4 or so years ago, this stuff was considered a pretty high tier beer. But recently, I’ve seen a lot of comments of it being too sweet (it’s a biere de garde), lager-like (it’s an ale), overly estery or fruity (again, a biere de garde, with a Belgian yeast) and too spicy (hops, come on people, the hop profile on this is about as traditional as it gets). And the rest of the people seem to have nothing bad to say, but still give it a poor score.
Well, anyways, I like it, obviously. I liked it quite a lot. Not overdone on the hoppiness, and seems to allow plenty of fun yeast nuance. Quite stinky when you first open the bottle, signs of a healthy yeast and quite a strong fermentation. It comes out with breathing and leaves behind it rich honey dough, almonds, lemons, sugar cookies and light caramel. Very zesty lemon-orange bitterness and hop flavor on the finish is delightful and very cleansing on the palate, though the beer never gets too sticky/sweet, being well-atteuated. Wonderful carbonation levels when given time to breath properly, allowing for a creamy, engaging carbonation, full lacing and strong head retention. Not thin in the least, despite what some people say.
Wonderful take on the style, without all the breadiness/earthiness that can sometimes muddle the style. Many similarities to a Belgian Strong Golden, but without some of the obnoxious alcohol apparency or dominant phenol character. I’m sure this takes to the cellar wonderfully. Now if they’d just bring back the Biere Nouvelle my part of town.

Bottle bought at the LCBO in Ottawa years ago. A great example of the style and dare I say benchmark. Spicy yeast, hoppy and enjoyable wish I bought more than one bottle. Page 396 of Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide and only 199 of his 500 Classic Brews to go.

very clear pale golden,full low level malt fruit with a bitter linger on back on tongue.

Very good French beer. Malty, some banana and orange notes. Strong bitterness on the end. A bit expensive but worth it.

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Biggest problem is the appearance, not nearly enough head. Perhaps I refrigerated it a tad too long. The beer has a nice delicate sweetness with banana and yeasty flavors. The sweetness doesn’t linger too long before it’s replaced by just the slightest suggestion of hop bitterness in the aftertaste. I’m glad the brewers did that because any more bitterness would ruin the delicate balance of the malt.

Bottle (33 cl) from Systembolaget. Glear golden with a large white head. Aroma sweet and malty with notes of banana, yeast, and alcohol coming through. Smooth mouthfeel, but a cloying, unbalanced alcoholic sweetness lingers in the finish.