Beer – #1027 – Garage Project – Pas De Deux 2016

Garage Project Pas De Deux. 2016. A beer I looked past the first time I saw it. GP have made some noises around wines and I’m not sure that it’s a good thing, they don’t appear to be big movers. However I saw a couple of reviews on this, a beer, and that made it more important that I find out for myself.

Brut beers are this weeks new thing, hazy beer was last weeks, I have no idea what might be coming next.

intricate, painstaking

Pas De Deux 2016 is a 750ml bottle of beer, in the champagne sized bottle, it has 11.6% ABV which is around that 350 calories a serve, This is 6.9 standard drinks of beer in NZ.

Garage Project Pas De Deu is brewed in the style Fruit Beer or variously as Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut, it is brewed by Garage Project who are in Wellington, New Zealand

fancy looking beer

A duet of perfect unison – strong blonde wort and the finest clear pressed pinot juice from Nautilus Estate’s sparkling vineyard.

First blended and fermented together using a mixture of Belgian beer and champagne yeasts, then bottled and allowed to condition ‘sur lie’ for 18 months before being riddled and disgorged in the traditional method. (“Sur Lie – “on the lees.” lees is the coarse sediment, which consists mainly of dead yeast cells and small grape particles that accumulate during fermentation. Wine¬makers believe that certain wines benefit from being aged sur lie.)

The result of this intricate, painstaking process is a seamless union of beer and sparkling wine.

A true pas de deux.

So, What could possibly go wrong?

Cork and age always something to impress, and potentially end badly, they’ve gone all out on the presentation. The label is quite a stark black and white looking thing, but adds to the prestige I think.

Quite a bready yeasty note on opening, this might just be the top of the bottle talking though. Underneath is a sweeter note aching to get out.

Brighter than I thought it would be this is golden treacle orange, and there was quite the foam of a head that has moved away leaving a glass of sparking behind.

In the glass you can pick a wine base.

That’s an odd mix of tastes, there a really sweet spike, and then a slam of a hop bitterness, with some malt body to beef it up, that wash together and carry on to a finish that carries a little heat in it.

It appears then to have a foot in two camps, you could forgive the thinking that is based around a desert wine, something really sweet, and you also get to enjoy a bit of hops and malt action in the second stanza.

As it warms in the glass the aroma does settle towards more of a wine than a beer.

For me this isn’t a beer that you want to keep sipping and enjoying, the flavours are quire brash and I was hoping for a ‘softer’ more subtle beer, and whilst this isn’t in any way brash the sweetness is quite loud and it isn’t tempered well with the Strong Blonde that this started with.

So I’ll struggle on with this, and continue with it in the garden and over dinner, and that always ends up an enjoyable experience.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 8 of its things from the thing. It’s not close to the 9, and 8 is rather fancy for beer. It is unusual and quite tasty but I think it’s a little over-pitched or under-done as to what it might be, I like the sweetness but it has potential to be quite wearing.

The double dip review

Where did I get it? The local Liquorland of course.
Am I enjoying it? It is very different.
Would I have another? Next vintage if there is one, for sure.
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Yes there’s some theatrics to be had with this, and the taste is a challenge and there’s a lot to unpick and unpack for this not to be an ideal sit share and talk about beer.

Music for this: ”The Crossing by Alejandro Escovedo on The Spotify Player

Alejandro Escovedo is a Mexican-American rock musician, songwriter, and singer, who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar

Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut

First brewed in Belgium, Bière de Champagne or Bière Brut typically undergo a lengthy maturation. Some are even cave-aged in the Champagne region of France and are then subjected to remuage and dégorgement, which is the “methode de champenoise” process of removing yeast from the bottle. Most are delicate, high in alcohol, and highly carbonated. Less frequently you’ll come across a spiced example. The color of Bière de Champagne can range from very pale gold to a darker pale amber. Often presented in 750 mililiter champagne-style corked and caged bottles.