What is Biere De Garde?

Thanksgiving is only about a week away (I swear I don’t know where the time goes), so I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about my top 5 Biere De Gardes, French for beer which has been kept or lagered. Biere De Garde is a traditional farmhouse pale ale that has its origins in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. Brewed in the late winter and early spring and kept in cold cellars for consumption later in the year, this keeping was primarily done to avoid problems with the yeast during the warmer summer months.

Biere De Garde and Saison

In many ways, Biere De Garde is a distant relative of Saison, with the main difference between them being that Biere De Garde has a rounder, richer, sweeter, malt-focused flavor, with a cellar-like, earthy, sometimes musty character that is difficult to replicate if you’re attempting to homebrew it, due to its indigenous yeast and molds. Another noticeable difference from this beer and Saison is its lack of spicing and tartness.

Biere De Garde Characteristics

Biere De Garde has a prominent malty-sweet aroma with a complex, light to moderate toasty character, and very little hop aroma, and if it is there it will be a bit on the spicy or herbal side. Appearance-wise, there is one of the widest ranges of color of all beer styles; some are light blonde, and some are dark brown, with any variation in between. Highly carbonated with a well-formed white to off-white head, Biere De Garde is one pretty beer. It tastes even better than it looks—it has medium to high malt flavor with a toasty, toffee-like sweetness, and that malt flavor will increase in the darker versions that you encounter. Hop bitterness will be low, but supportive, and there will be a smooth, lager-like character with some herbal and spice notes in the background. Smooth and silky, even though were talking about it in November, this is one of my favorite summer session beers when you need a break from all the pale wheat ales, Witbiers, and Hefeweizens.

Biere De Garde and Food Pairings

Now comes my main inspiration for talking about this beer—its amazing versatility with food pairing. It makes perfect sense that the indigenous beer style of France works so well with grub. Lamb and sausages are two big ones that immediately come to mind, and intense, fragrant cheeses are Biere De Gardes best friends; Livarot, Pavin, and Munster are three that are a match made in heaven. However, the biggest, grandest, and most perfect pairing is what you’re going to do next week—Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve talked about the herbal, earthy, musty notes in Biere De Garde, and these flavors match up incredibly well with what will be on your table. All those herbs that you’re going to use in your gravy, stuffing, on the turkey… they have very much in common with this beer.

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that one of my personal bibles is Garrett Oliver’s The Brewmaster’s Table, the last word on pairing beer with food. Upon first reading it years ago, one of the first suggestions in his book that I followed and took to heart was his suggestions with this beer and Thanksgiving dinner, and I couldn’t agree with him more. I outlined in a post last year how great this beer is with that meal, and encouraged everyone to ditch the wine bottles and go for the beer instead. I’m going to do the same again this year—it’s simply TOO good of a pairing to not try at least once.

Cheers!

Lost Abbey Avante Garde

Flying Dog Garde Dog

Russian River Perdition

Saint Landelin La Divine

Ommegang Biere De Mars

TAGS [ BIERE DE GARDE | BEST BIERE DE GARDE | BEER REVIEWS | THANKSGIVING BEERS ]

Thanksgiving is now just a week away, so if you haven’t yet decided on which beers to serve with your turkey, now is the time. You need brews that will stand up to the taste but not overpower it; a delicate balance indeed. My three favorite styles to pair with turkey dinner, and all the fixings, are Amber Ales, Oktoberfests and Brown Ales (English or American will do).

Looking for an even heavier push in the right direction? Ok, ok, I’ve got a bit more up my sleeve. Here are some of my personal choices for each of the three styles.

Have your own beer and turkey pairing suggestions? Please share them with us! Plus, check out Deron’s suggestions from last year.

TAGS [ BEER PAIRING | BEER AND TURKEY | THANKSGIVING BEERS | BEER REVIEWS ]

The History of Baltic Porter

Baltic porter is the biggest, blackest, and boldest of all the Porters. Considered to be a bit of an evolved version of a traditional English Brown Porter, they started to rear their heads in the late 1700s from the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. Much like the origin of India Pale Ale, these beers were brewed with a higher alcohol content to survive their boat ride across the North Sea or beyond. Additionally, their dark brown color covered up some cloudiness, and numerous malt varieties were used to cover up imperfections. It may come as a surprise, but the majority of them are actually brewed with a bottom fermenting lager yeast as opposed to a top fermenting ale yeast.

Baltic Porter Characteristics

Baltic Porters have a rich, malty, sweet aroma that can contain caramel, toffee, nuts, toast, and even licorice. You’ll probably pick up some alcohol notes of moderate strength, along with plums, raisins, prunes, cherries, or currants, occasionally with a vinous, port-like quality. Those brewed with darker malts will give off some chocolate, molasses or coffee, but keep your nose tuned for burnt notes, because they should never be there. They can be dark reddish in color, to very dark brown with a thick, sticky tan head. Oddly enough, these beers are relatively clear, but the ones on the darker side can be opaque. As with aroma, this style will have a rich malty sweetness with a complex blend of deep malt, dried fruit, and alcohol. There’s a silky smooth, mouth filling schwarzbier-like roasted flavor that again, won’t be burnt, and that lager yeast that it’s brewed with will give it a very clean character. They start out sweet but that darker malt flavor will quickly take over and be right there to the last sip. They’ll be a bit on the dry side, with some coffee or licorice in the finish, with medium bitterness from the malt and hops, but just enough to provide balance. Baltic Porters are quite a mouthful, with some well-aged alcohol warmth, but with the moderate carbonation they won’t be too heavy on the tongue.

Baltic Porter and Food Pairings

Right out of the gate, if it’s meat, and it’s roasted, smoked, grilled, baked, braised, or broiled it’s a perfect match for this big, bad style. Any kind of dish with a classic mole sauce that contains spices, chilies, nuts, and chocolate will be great with Baltic Porter, not only with the flavor profiles matching up, but that clean lager character in the background will tame some of the spice in your dish, and the roastiness will play well with whats going on. As you’ll probably guess, desserts with Baltic Porter are a no-brainer. The chocolate malt in the beer will pair up with literally any kind of chocolate dessert (as long as it’s not too sweet), and it will also be a great contrast to a dessert with fruit, especially anything with raspberries, cherries, or strawberries. If you want to go the simple route, get yourself some good vanilla ice cream and you’ll have quite a treat.

Why You’ll Enjoy Baltic Porter

If you’re a fan of darker, less-bitter beer, and you haven’t yet checked out this style, do yourself a huge favor and seek out a few that I have listed below. One great aspect of this style that you may not expect is that the price point for these beers is surprisingly reasonable, especially imported versions. That doesn’t happen too often these days with beers of higher strength, so if cost efficient is part of your game plan when you head to your local beer store, put some of these on your shopping list.

Cheers!

Okocim Porter

Sinebrychoff Porter

Duck-Rabbit Baltic Porter

Victory Baltic Thunder

Zywiec Porter

TAGS [ BALTIC PORTER | TOP BALTIC PORTERS | BALTIC PORTER CHARACTERISTICS | ABOUT BALTIC PORTER | BEER REVIEWS | BALTIC PORTER BEER REVIEW ]

Dave just sent me a link to this article in The New York Times by Eric Asimov, and the introductory paragraph really grabbed my attention:

"People get stuck on the word stout. It confuses, the way it connotes size and fleshiness. And the color, too — inky, impenetrable black — suggests mass and power. As a result, many people think stout is a formidable blockbuster of an ale, heavy and alcoholic, just the way they assume darker roasts of coffee have more caffeine than lighter roasts. Nothing could be further from the truth."

As the manager of a local coffee shop during my college years, and a woman who loves all stout brews, including my favorite go-to beer Guinness, I know these misconceptions well… and I thank Mr. Asimov for trying to set the masses straight.

Damn, now I need to pick up more Guinness. Thanks, Dave :)

TAGS [ STOUT BEER | GUINNESS | DARK COFFEE | STOUTS ]

This past weekend, Dave and I had the pleasure and privilege to attend one of the best Real Ale Festivals this side of the Atlantic at Clark’s Ale House in Syracuse. A true Syracuse mainstay, and one of the first real beer bars to sprout up back in the early 90s before places like that started to become more common the past few years, Clark’s has always done it right with great beer, great atmosphere (there are no TVs), and a legendary roast beef sandwich that is basically a requirement to enjoy when you’re in town. The Peoples Real Ale Festival is an event they have held the past couple of years with great success, and this was my first opportunity to attend.

Cask Ale, or Real Ale as it’s known in the US, is beer brewed with traditional ingredients and allowed to mature naturally. Being only common in Britain these days, this beer is unfiltered, unpasteurized, and contains live yeast, which will continue to condition the beer in the cask (known as secondary fermentation).

The result is a natural CO2 carbonation which allows the hop and malt flavors to develop, giving the drinker a much more simple, naked, and un-fooled-with beer. No extraneous gas is used in dispensing of the beer, usually by way of a hand pump. It’s a very unique, and more importantly, traditional way of serving beer than the normal filtered, pasteurized, chilled beer we’re used to most of the time. Some people think that Real Ale is warm and flat; however this is incorrect. Cask Ale is served between 54-56 degrees, which is cool, but not cold like normal keg beer, and there should be a noticeable carbonation from the secondary fermentation in the cask.

Here is a complete list of the beers that were available:

Blue Point Oatmeal Stout
Blue Point Rastafa Rye
Brooklyn Best Bitter
Brooklyn BLAST
Captain Lawrence DIPA
Captain Lawrence Pumpkin
Captain Lawrence Smoked Porter
Ellicottville Prince of Pale
Empire Maple Smoked Porter
Empire Amber
Flying Bison Rusty Chain Amber
Ithaca Flower Power
Landmark Vanilla Bean Brown
Middle Ages X
Middle Ages Dragonslayer
Sixpoint Bengali IPA
Sixpoint Amberdeen Scotch Ale
Sixpoint Righteous Rye
Southern Tier Pumpking

I was fortunate enough to sample about of what was available, and everything I had was very enjoyable. Highlights for me were the Sixpoint Aberdeen, the Brooklyn Best Bitter (I have a real soft spot for simple English Bitters), and I made it a point to do a side-by-side with the two porters and the two stouts. Also of note was the presence of 2 different rye beers, an often under-brewed and favorite style of mine.

As impressed as I was with the beer list, I think I was even more pleased with the way the event was run. It was very well organized, with 2 guys sharing bartending duties on all the casks, which were placed in an area where no long lines would develop and bar traffic could move around with ease. Even better, you had the option of getting 8- or 16-ounce pours so you needn’t buy a full pint of a beer if you were unsure if you would like it. This provided the opportunity to try the majority. And most of all, the price point didn’t hurt—most 8-ounce pours were $2.

So, cheers to Clark’s for doing it well, and doing it right. Thankfully, there has been a bit of resurgence and growing popularity of these types of festivals over the past few years, and I encourage everyone to take full advantage of them when held in your area. After all, it is how our forefathers enjoyed great beer, and a bit a nostalgia and history never hurts!

TAGS [ CASK ALE | REAL ALE | BEER TASTING | BEER SAMPLING | CASK ALES | REAL ALES ]

Now that I’m an official beer snob, I tend to be quite critical of others’ judgment calls – especially when it comes to judging craft brews. In true beer snob fashion, I assume that 95% (if not more) of the general public has no idea what makes a beer "good" and they wouldn’t know actually know a high-quality ale or lager if it fell from the sky and hit them over the head.

Men’s Journal ran an article on October 5th titled "America’s Best Beers" and I must admit authors Christian DeBenedetti and Seth Fletcher did a fantastic job compiling an impressive list.

I was glad to see that Stone Brewery’s Levitation Ale, Flying Fish Exit 4, Victory Prima Pils and Dogfish Head Squall IPA made the cut. In fact, several of my favorites made their top 15 and based on their proven impeccable taste, I can’t wait to try the others that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to enjoy – and I stress the "yet."

The guys broke things down into categories, choosing three of their favorite lagers, ales, dark beers and Belgian styled brews, plus three that they deemed "best cutting edge."

An additional 10 beers are mentioned in the article Top Five Beer Towns in the U.S., published the same day.
(In case you were wondering it was San Diego, NYC, Portland (OR), Philadelphia and Chicago that made that list).

Check them out, tell us if there’s a brew you wish had been included and let us know what YOU think!

TAGS [ AMERICAN BEER | TOP AMERICAN BEERS | MEN'S JOURNAL | BEST BEERS | 25 BEST AMERICAN BEERS ]

Recently in my Top 5 picks, I’ve been focusing on lighter, more seasonal beers. Now that we’re beginning the descent into the Fall season, my favorite time of year, I thought it would be the perfect time to focus on one of my very favorite styles of beer.

The History of Scotch Ale

Scotch Ale, also known as Strong Scotch Ale or Wee Heavy, is at the top end of the spectrum for the style, being the strongest, maltiest, darkest, and I feel most delicious of the Scotch Ale family. They’re fermented at cooler temperatures than most ales, and combined with going through a long boil in the kettle, they produce clean, intense malt flavors that are sweeter, fuller-bodied, and of course higher in alcohol than their lighter brothers and sisters. They’re actually a very accurate representation of their indigenous ingredients and the region. Hops traditionally are not native to Scotland, and especially back in the day were expensive to import, hence the focus on malt being the big star in these beers. Instead of using hops, brewers focused on herbs, spices, and roots to balance out all the sweetness.

Characteristics of Scotch Ale

Most Scotch Ales are light copper to dark brown in color, often with deep garnet highlights, with a thick tan head that may quickly dissipate in higher strength versions. Malt lovers, this style should be at the top of your list. Roasted, caramel malt is the dominant trait, with some nuttiness that may last well into the finish. Like I said, hop flavor will be at a minimum, and alcohol warmth is present a lot of the time. Like some other styles, there’s a bit of what I like to call a fruit basket flavor going on, with plums, raisins, and dried fruit being very noticeable. They’re full-bodied beers, thick and chewy, with moderate carbonation, and some versions are dangerously drinkable.

Scotch Ale and Food Pairings

Scotch Ale is another very versatile beer for pairing with food. Roasted meats are the first to come to mind, and game is another winner with this style, especially pheasant, quail, partridge, and venison. Sausage, meatloaf, pork, and basically any roasted meat are also great to pair with these beers. Desserts are also a great match, especially shortbread, creamy puddings, and creme brulee. One thing that should be noted is to avoid pairing this style with spicy foods the lack of hops wont give them the power to stand up to the heat.

Top 5 Scotch Ales

This was a tough Top 5 for me to pick, primarily because its one of my favorite styles, and there are thankfully numerous commercial examples widely available that are very unique in their own way, so the competition is tough. Now that we have some evenings that have a bit of a chill in the air, these are some great ones to enjoy during those last few nights you can squeeze in on the back patio. Cheers!

Scotch Silly

Alesmith Wee Heavy

Traquair House Ale

Dark Horse Scotty Karate

Meantime Scotch Ale

TAGS [ SCOTCH ALE | SCOTCH ALES | TOP SCOTCH ALES | BEST SCOTCH ALES | SCOTCH ALE REVIEW | WHAT IS SCOTCH ALE | BEER REVIEW | BEER REVIEWS ]