Southampton Biere de Garde
Our Holiday brew is a malty, French-style "Biere de Garde". This traditional style is brewed by small, independent farmhouse breweries in the north of France.
3.6
328 reviews
Southampton, United States
Community reviews
Bottle shared by bhensonb. After gushing a bit , poured orange copper with a massive fluffy beige head and an enticing barnyard aroma. There is a mellow pale malt flavor with candi sugar and a lot of oak. Very delicous.
Bottle at Where the Wild Beers Are. Clear copper pour with standard white head. Rich aroma of caramel and savory pumpkin. Flavor is awesome of toasted marshmallow, toffee, and ground pumpkin. Lingering roasted malt flavor with caramel. Delicious.
I don’t know if this was fresh or not but it was quite good. Very earthy malty aroma from a cloudy amber pour. Nice head. The flavor was nicely malty with a very good sweetness. Caramel, molasses and some fruit. I will get another and let it go til Christmas at least.
Had this at BCTC after the fest, back at the campsite. Pours a clear orange with a thin white head. Sweet caramel and toast. Creamy toasted caramel. More cream and sweet toast flavors before more toast lingers on the finish.
750ml bottle from nearbeer. Thanks! Poured a clear copper color with a dense, lasting off white head. Smelled of toffee, molasses, subdued brown sugar, and sweet cream. Light to medium bodied and delicately sweet. Carbonation was on the higher end of the spectrum. Toffee, spicy malt, and candi sugar flavors.
750mL bottle acquired quite a while back.
Pours a murky brownish amber with a big bubbly head that recedes to a thick collar and has streams of bubbles feeding it throughout.
The aroma is very sweet with pears and green apples coupled with some light grassy notes and flowers. Also of note is the heavier malt sweetness than most beers of this style.
The taste is also sweet but I get more earthy character than the nose. There are sweet caramel malts in the background with a much bigger hay and grass element with a slightly fry finish. Not as dry as most biere de gardes, but not as massively sweet as I was expecting from the aroma. That said, still plenty of green apples and sugar in there.
The mouthfeel is medium bodied and highly carbonated, effervescent in fact.
This is a very sweet version of the style with lots of malts and fruit which forces the dry earthiness to the back. Very complex and tasty.
(Old BA rate - tap)
Beautiful ruby red color, with a quickly disappearing white head. Fairly muted aroma, with suggestions of fresh fruit and maltiness. The fruitiness of the brew was right up front with a good degree of malt sweetness. Pretty complex tastes, and hard for me to nail down everything to be honest. Medium to thin MF, and a little viscous. Hugely drinkable even with some complexities. Thoroughly enjoyable brew
A- body is a semi-translucent ruby-amber that pours with a giant frothy, foamy off-white colored head. Head eventually settles to 1/2 finger and leaves behind traces of lacing all the way down. Yeast sediment can be seen floating in the glass.
S- Not much to the smell. Mild floral hops, a hint of funky yeast, and a hint of exotic fruit.
T-Mild flavor upfront with a minimal dry, exotic fruity flavor and a somewhat metallic background. A burst of floral hop flavor comes through for the finish as well as some bitterness. The slightest alcohol burn rises at the finish.
P-Medium weight body with low to medium tingly carbonation. Body is smooth and creamy.
O- Decent beer overall but not as awesome as I thought it would be. Its a nice chance to try another biere de garde though. 7% is barely detectable. Wouldn’t mind having this again.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 10-28-2008 02:01:58
12oz bottle. Golden nice, one finger white head. Nose is malt forward, some spicy hops, a touch of honey and a bit of fruit. Grain forward malt, mid honey sweetness, dry finish with a touch of tartness, earthy bitterness.
22 oz. bottle. Pours a very nice looking ruby orange color with gray bubbly thin film. Aroma of malts, caramel, hay, cherry, coppery hops, with some berry too. Flavor of rich cherry malt, which sours a bit with some raspberry tones on the finish, with light spices throughout. This is quite nice.
750ml bomber: This one pours a cloudy orange-dark golden color. There was a bit of an effervescent tan head on it that dropped away rather quickly. Nice aroma. Somewhat fruity, grassy and floral. A touch yeasty also. Very nice taste. A touch of tartness is up front. Not too heavy of a body. Caramel and fruit (apples and lemon) notes on the tongue. Just a touch of spices too. Very nice!
Drank from the tap at Lazy boy Saloon in White Plains, NY. Tastes like a more refined Blue Moon. Spice, yeast, sugar and citrus all make their way onto tastebuds.
Bottle from 07. Poured a murky dark amber with a thin white head. Nose is light with yeast notes. Lots of carbonation. This is fruity with light spice notes and a dry spicy finish. A wee bit hot. But good.
Location: 750 ml bottle from Whole Foods - Bowery, 2/24/10
Aroma: Nose has some sugar, yeast, citrus, leaves, and spice
Appearance: Hazy golden/orange colored beer with a medium-large fluffly white head
Flavor: Taste is lots of yeast, spice, earthy, not much else
Palate: Body is fairly light, this one is pretty easy drinking, decent mouthfeel
Overall Impression:
This will serve as my first rating of a Biere de Garde. I’ve been meaning to knock this style off the list, so we’ll do it here. A pretty solid beer. Not the most exciting thing I;ve ever had, but it is pretty good. Drinks really easily, and it has some solid components to it.
Draft at Blind Tiger. Hazy mahogany pour with white head. Spicy and earthy aromas. Not the best beer from SH. Musky flavor with some earthy tones as well as some dried fruit.
Transparent amber with a thin white head. Belgian nose with candi sugar, light yeast and citrus. Flavor of more sugar, pumpernickel, honey, and some recurring wheat. Sticky full-bodied palate that stings with a bit of carbonation, alcohol with warmth. Overall, a rather aggressive and singularly sweet BdG that, while still enjoyable, may be more aptly anticipated as a Belgian Strong Ale. I like some elements here but won’t return when I want a BdG or BSA.
First pours very nicely also looks and tastes rather true to style. Half an inch of head on the initial pour that seems to be staying around as it should. I taste malts, very bread like flavor, wheat along with some subtle fruit nuances there like a candied sugar. Awesome depth in the color of this beer. Light bodied. I can see some sediment floating around in the beer as well. Overall a nice one.
Some residual candy sugar on the aroma, with not much else. The pour yielded about an inch of head, with some decent lacing. Taste is rather subdued with some fair amounts of light caramel and belgian candy sugar. Very decent for this style.
Bomber. Pours a slightly hazy deep orange with little head and aromas of sweet malt, oranges, cinnamon and cloves. Flavor is all of the above with only a slight addition of astringent alcohol that appears from time to time.
Aroma has some spice and caramel malts. Flavor is very mellow, light, faint spice. Nice body, light grain and finished fast.
Interesting. A perfect brew for the holiday season, this Biere de Garde really brings a yeasty and malt punch to the palate and nose. A nice caramel and malt aroma wafts from a dark orange and copper body with a decent white head. A carbonated body emits from a healthy yeast background with no hop flavors or bitterness to the brew. A sugar sweet flavor resembles homemade hard candy. While the mouthfeel could have been better, I must say this beer was impressive.
Bottle from Hopdog. Pours a pretty orange/gold. Nose is floral with apricots and distant wet bread notes, a bit musty. Taste is a tad tart, iced tea, more apricots then some distant roasty notes. This is a pretty fine BdG that I would drink often. Nice.
BA shows this beer at 6.6% and a regular Biere de Garde at 7.2. I had the regular 7,2% version one year old bottle. Very carbonated dark amber with big lively head. Light caramel nose with light trace of yeast. Body seems a little watery but lively with dusty caramel and floral flavour. A hint of old must and wood.
’07 Bottle sampled Sept ’09.
Pours a nice amber-brown. Strongly yeasty aroma, lovely blend of pepper and heavy-duty malt goodness, dry almost bretty finish. Hints of orange rind, more of that bready yeast. Not so estery or sour; quite nice in that regard. Extremely drinkable, very enjoyable beer. Excellent US interpretation of the style.
Bottle from my secret santa. Poured a slightly cloudy light brown color with a pretty good size head. Aroma was of some aged toasty malts. Some light dark fruity notes to this one. The head really sticks around. A great palate on this one, perfectly bubbly. Not much hop presence at all. A pretty unique beer actually, well at least something i havent had in awhile. A very easy to drink beer though just not my style.
Frothy head with a gold-bronze body, nice malt, but a little sour on the front of the tongue.
Creamy head, spoon worthy in fact. Hazy orange body. Round stone fruit driven malt with just a touch of the barn on the nose. The bubbles expand across the palate in full, blanketing force. Vinous notes of stewed peaches with a touch of wet soil. Firm, earthy hop finishes the beer as a touch of oak dries the palate. Well made and priced fairly. Should cellar for 5 years of so. Excellent cheese beer, bring on the funk. 92
Super malty slightly funky aroma, molasses, caramelized figs, dates, hints of must in the nose. Pours a cloudy amber with dense white head. The flavor reminds me of a super malty Fantome, molasses, caramel, spicy hops, funky, dark fruits, figs, dark raisons, prunes with hints of chocolate. Really everything you’d expect from a classic bier de garde with some age on it. Excellent!
Bottle. Pours bright orange with an off white head. The aroma has honey like sweetness, spice and some floral hops. The flavor has sweet malt, floral and earthy notes, light spices and light citrus. Very tasty.
From bottle. The aroma on this one really takes me back to a Sunday afternoon sitting in my apartment in Reims, trying some French countryside beer. Can’t tell if it’s the hops, the grain, or the yeast strain, but the musky sweet mixture of this amber beer is very particular. Caramel and brown sugar, with just a bit of light fruity notes. Dark copper amber clear, with thin off-white lacing head. Medium heavy body, smooth with medium carbonation and just a bit of warming. Starts sweet with caramel and brown sugar, a bit of plum, and biscuit. Light fruity character with mild dull hop finish. Sweet finish, not cloying, with a bit of fusel alcohol and light sweet nutty after. Has a nice character.