Beer – #383 – Renaissance – Enlightenment Series – Bière de Garde (a redux)

This is Brewed by Renaissance Brewing in Blenheim, New Zealand, and of course as a  Bière de Garde. and I’ve had it before of course. I had the draft version,  this is the bottle. I thought it was a bit good then.

A 500ml bottle of a 8.4% ABV beer and that translates into a 3.3 standard drink units thing of  something like 255 calories a serve.

I know right

Brewers would craft this beer in the winter months, but aimed to make a style that could be enjoyed for the rest of the year. As beer was often used as payment for farmhands, they had to be refreshing in the hot summer months. Bière de Garde (Beer to Keep) became the name for these unique, rustic ales. This is our take with a different aging technique. This fine ale is aged in chardonnay and gerwürztraminer barrels for four and a half months. This beer is dry with honey biscuit characters and a finish of the fine flavours with a hint of French oak. Thanks to Matt Dainty for this interesting beer.

So I’m ready are you ? (he said to himself).

Aroma is lemony sweet,  candy.

Dazzling blood orange orange golden pour with a lovely head, this is one of the prettiest beers you could pour.

Aroma moves more to the sort of thing form a Belgium beer and those sorts of esters and things.

Starts a a really sour beer,  and carries that through the palate, but it then also has a nice mellow fruit thing going on.

I don’t hunk this is a good as the draft/keg version that I had before, it’s somewhat more edgy and pointy on the fringes.

There does not appear to be the depth or presence of the caramel that I thought was in the tap version.

Less sweet, more towards the sour. There is though one sweetness and fruits in this in the body, it really is very clever and a genuine and a nice beer. I say that but there are the stubborn who would hate this and not ‘get it’, but then if you’re an adventurer than you would and you would.

A sour beer though, that’s up there with the trends either way.

I’m not in anyway enjoying this like I had the drools on over the keg version.

The Pdubyah-o-meter limps to a 8 which annoys and frustrates as this is a blindly good draft beer, and I’m at a loss. This is like that thing where you remember being 10 and your back garden as being at least the size of a jungle only in later years to find it was 10 x 15 with a couple of trees.

I went to this with a smile and virtual high-five going on, only to be left hanging.  

<sadface> /sadface #sadface

The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it?   😦 no this is like finding out your first love became gender re-assinged.
2. Would I have another?  yes, and yes again, but its an end of beer thing not a lets go with this first.
3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Yes,  this is a beer that has a couple of styles and a great conversation point. 

BIÈRE DE GARDE

Medium bodied with hints of caramel or toffee. Cellared smell and flavor are characteristics. Color can vary from full gold to copper colored. Good head retention. The name means “beer for keeping” and is best when aged.

or

A traditional classification for the farmhouse ales of France and their sometimes-untraditional new-world counterparts. Bière de Garde is today generally a warm fermented strong pale ale – sometimes blonde, sometimes amber, and has much in common with Belgium ales. Medium bodied with hints of caramel or toffee. Cellared smell and flavor are characteristics. The name means “beer for keeping”.