St. Sylvestre 3 Monts

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

Bottle, given to me by a beautiful girl, thanks Evelyn. Golden body with a medium sized off-white head. Mostly lasting, nice lacing. The aroma is very Bretty with musty, cobwebs, lemons with spicy, peppery notes and warm bread dough. Slight tartness is offset by nobel hops, honey and yeasty dough. Plenty of Brett funk to keep it interesting. Mouthfeel is light and soft with a dry, semi-bitter finish. Very refreshing.

Almost in the Top 17 in style. A classic example with an intermingling of cracked pepper, oak, and white wine. I have no idea what “3 Monts” is in reference to nor do I care. You get through seventeen beers and see how much you care about anything.

Bottled 0,75L. Fragrant and adherent foam, medium duration. Shining yellow color, lightly dark and with a good fizz. Much acidulous and winy scent; notes of must, clear mildew and cellar. Much lively and prickly taste, nearly excessive itching in the nose. Sour, sweet and with a pleasant alcoholic tenor but a lot top heavy. I believed better.

Bottled. Interesting fastener on the cork - clamped. Golden pour, big white head. Sourish, extremely well-balanced. Dry. Medium-bodied and smells old, dusty. Much more alcoholic than it tastes, dangerous! Fantastic. Would love to have again.

Pours very light yellow with small head. Aroma of bread and puke. Tastes like a sour pilsener. Nasty.

RERATE: Bouteille de 750 ml gratuite (disponible en épicerie au Québec), bu plus d’un an après son meilleur avant (17/12/06), bu ce soir. Blonde peu claire, petit collet. Arome légé de malte caramelisé avec des notes de citrons. Arpès un an, elle a encore de l’effervence en bouche, goût de citron et d’épice, un peu malté avec une finition sec!

Glad to finally rate this one after downing many-a-bottle and having the repeated pleasure of re-trying it at every beer tasting event in Perth. Poured into a chalice, chilled from the fridge with my wife dishing out her opinion on it in the background. Sparkling, pale straw gold body filled with a huge flurry of carbonation that raised an immense, pillowy white head beyond the brim. Head retained well to leave a thick layer of frost coating over the glass. Musty, barnyard grains, honey and very spicy herbs, yeast and alcohol tickle the nose. Sweet lemon-concentrate and light yeasty ’horse-blanket’ notes come in as it warms, but are still mere undertones to the strong peppery spices. Quite gentle on the tongue, well conditioned as the mild carbonation offered only a little bounce to the generally smooth body of this beer. Lemon and honey, gritty palest grains and an apparent taste of shellfish like fresh cut oysters in brine water make up the unusual flavour profile that fills every inch of the mouth. Juicy notes of grapefruit and chardonnay wine balance the sweeter flavours with all the spices coming on with vigour in the back end. Finish is rather fresh, juicy and fruity with a little warmth brought on by the alcohol. It was honestly more refreshing warm than chilled, with the unusual flavour of shellfish adding to it a depth of flavour I haven’t come across yet. Unusual, to say the least, but it’s certainly addictive. A good summery quaffer. (75cL, 22/12/07, Morley Liquor Merchants)

(Bottle) Purchased at Marche Jovi in Gatineau, Quebec, for $5.79. Pours a medium, white, frothy head with a very clear light ginger ale coloured body. The nose is disturbingly lemony with a buttery malt and adjuct yeastiness. The flavour is incredibly poor ginger ale and lemon concoction. Yuck... brush my tongue...