St. Sylvestre Bière Nouvelle

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

Bottle. Shaded amber-orange body with a large frothy white head. The aroma is mostly of bread and yeast. Prickly carbonation with bready malt accents and little interesting flavour. Mostly sweet and modest.

Bottle shared with the regular crew plus MDS at Greg’s, Blankboy’s bottle. Dark yellow, foamy medium white head. Weird yeasty aroma, dry. Taste: light malt, kind of flavourful actually, well carbonated. I liked the malt taste, but the odd dry sourness really detracted. Not bad - refreshing and simple and just a little off.

Bottle shared with blankboy, HogTownHarry, jerc, tupalev & mds - courtesy of HogTownHarry. Light orange with a large white head. Aroma is dry, yeasty, a bit funky. Flavour is - well, kind of boring. A bit of spice, a bit of yeast, a bit of fruit - it’s nice enough, but very subdued. At least it hides that 8% very well...

Bottle - 750ml (2006). Wonderful hazy golden body with light carbonation and a huge off-white foamy head. Sharp hoppy aroma that hides the alcohol very well. Its dry and robust hoppy taste leaves a long and strongly bitter finish. Unlike too many Bières de Garde, that one is not oversweetened. Despite its lack of complexity, this is a highly recommendable Bière de Garde.

Amber body with a moderate creamy head. (3+). Aroma of alcohol, light yeast and malt, dry. Very dry flavour with noticeable alcohol and a touch of pale malt, light bitterness. Average palate is quite effervescent. Average at best. 5/3+/6/3/12

Bottle (750ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow, jerc, mds and tupalev, blankboy’s bottle. Slightly hazy amber with a huge fluffy white head. Dry aroma, sharply spicy/yeasty, some generic sweetish grain - interesting, not as subtle as I’d expect from a BdG, but perhaps that’s the "sur lees." Taste is sweet, only slightly spicy, mildly fruity - I know this is supposed to be subtle and elegant, but all I wrote was "ehh". Average everything - body, carbonation, maybe a bit of floral character, it finishes incredibly quickly - just didn’t do too much for me - give me more yeast, or spice, or something - this isn’t too far off a generic Québec golden ale.

The pour reveals a clear golden color with a thick frothy white head. Aroma and flavor of spicy malt with a sweet finish. The palate is light and the carbonation is lively. It isn’t bad but I feel this beer doesn’t have much too offer.

From a 750 ml. brown bottle with no bottled/freshness date, but has 11-12 on the cork, with a blurb and serving instructions on the back label, sampled at cellar temperature in a chalice. I would like to know the vintage of this. Made a good appearance, poured a hazy golden orange with foamy white head that settled into a thin lacing, good carbonation. Had a nose of clove spiciness and orangy tropical fruits, touches of a wheat maltiness with faint whiffs of alcohol. A really nice light bodied mouthfeel, the right amount of carbonation, lightly crisp and smooth, very good drinkability. Clove spicy and orangy tropical fruity taste, a light nuttiness, dry yeastiness, the alcohol provides a nice warmth in the palate, but otherwise is well masked, a little herbalness and a dry fruity and yeasty finish. This is a tasty and balanced brew, another great ale from Brasserie De Saint-Sylvestre.