“This golden ale is an unfiltered, rich, complex, malty ale with an outstanding bouquet. A distinctive yeasty note with a slightly spicy aroma and a warming slightly alcoholic finish. Very smooth with a silky character. A unique styled beer inspired from the French and Belgium farmhouse styled beers. This beer is one of three in the otway trilogy series of French and Belgian Farmhouse Ales others in the range include Reserve De Otway and Saison. (6.3%).”
The Biere de Garde style is one we are only very new to. Our palates were only firstly graced with this spicy, malty type of beer recently at the Sydney GABS festival, and to be honest, we quite liked it. We’re really keen to see how this one shapes up so on we roll. Served in a beer tulip (which we also scored from GABS). This attractive chestnut pour generates a mountainous 3 finger crown which takes all of about 5 minutes to deconstruct and settle to a well retained 1cm head. Healthy lace trails are being omitted all the way down the glass. Although the aroma is slightly malt-forward the brewers have struck an excellent balance between it, the leafy/herbal hops and spices. We also get a fruity element coming through too with sweet hints of pomegranate, ripe raspberries and plum against a viscous scent of toffee-apple and caramel. Certainly presents a touch of nutty wood in the background also. Really well layered, plenty of depth on offer here. In the mouth it’s well carbonated with a silky smooth texture. Quite light on as it breezes down with hardly any grip on the tongue. The flavour profile initially offers up a saison-like spiciness with a slight caramel note and mild herbal/tea leafy hop bitterness. A soft alcohol warmth opens up as a hint of toasty malt and hay forms and carries on through the mid. Just to add to this beers complexity, a nutty undertone develops before a dry, herbal finish reveals a rye-like spiciness on the back end. Wow, this is a highly interesting beer. Maybe it’s the 6.8% ABV talking but there is a tonne of character in both aroma and flavour here. We are sure this will be the first of many more reviews to come for this style of beer. Thank you Prickly Moses, we aren’t sure what the Biere de Garde elite think but we thought this was an absolute cracker. Brilliant beer.