Cuvée des Jonquilles
(has 1 batch)

14th June 2009
Hazy gold beer. Softish palate. Clean malt. Very light., almost creamy. Very light fruity undertone. Nice finish, not too dry. Nice joined up and refreshing.

Bottle. Listed as Au Baron Brasserie (Gussignies, France) Cuvee des Jonquilles Biere de Garde (7%). Rating is from a practice BJCP Scoresheet. I was scoring it in the biere de garde category (16D). The numbers in this rating reflect ratebeer’s hedonistic scale and not my judging numbers.
Aroma: Grassy, toasty, lightly herbal and peppery with some clove notes. A bit musty, candied ginger, toasty malt aromas. Leans a bit more to the spicy yeast character exhibited by saisons. Complex and delicate interaction of yeast and malt with moderate esters.
Flavor: Bready, malty, toasty, light musty character with faint esters. Grassy and spicy (attributable to both the hops and pils malt) in the finish. Hops character is low as is the bitterness. Lingering balance of fermentation character and malt complexities. Light pear and other fruit notes linger. Nice crispness. Quite dry with a noticeable farmhouse fermentation character.
Mouthfeel: Very high and lively carbonation (nearly harshly so), very light warmth. Dry on the finish. Strong carbonic bite. No astringencies. Like a good farmhouse ale it feels refreshing and vibrant.
Overall Impression: A very good farmhouse ale that treads the lines between a saison and a biere de garde. Nice, vibrant and refreshing with strong fermentation characters (lightly estery, lightly phenolic, lightly musty). Could do with a slightly more pronounced malt character to fit better into the BdG category. A very well crafted beer.

Apricot pour. Complex fruity nose. Farmhouse earthy barnyard taste. Pleasant. A hint of star anise in the finish. Rated 4/14/10

Bottled. Apparently I drank this with skortila and Bullit, but I did not take notes. But I know I had about the same opinion about the beer as they had :P. Anyways, for a French beer, it’s quite ok.

Bottle @ Skortila. Hazy golden colour, white head. Aroma of sour dough, flower and spices. Flavour of sweet malts, some spices.

Corked bottle, from La Cave à Bulles, Paris
As soon as the metallic cage is removed, the cork explodes, luckily only directed to the ceiling, and even after pouring one glass, the foam keeps floating out of the bottle.
In the glass there is a hazy blond colored beer, with a big head, quite thick; also the perlage is persistent. Nice aroma, dry and spicy, with a touch of citrus, like a Saison. The body is medium-thin, even if the carbonation is almost gone in the explosion; it has a lean flavor, with the Saison-like spices, but lacking on body, more flavor and bitterness. Refreshing, good, but could be better.

750mL cork&cage bottle, I am pretty sure this is a few years old, no date. The cork shot out like a cannonball. The beer pours a thick golden color with no clarity at all and a small head. Aroma is full of flowers and rose-like sweetness. Juts a bit of barnyard as well. Taste is less sweet and less floral, more straight Bière de Garde with a white bread maltiness. A slightly above average carbonation and a nice full body make it very smooth and felt on the cheeks. A very nice brew.

Shared by beastiefan2k - man, the cork sure rocketed out of this one (I think I’ve yet to find where is landed last night) cloudy golden, fizzy-bodied beer - floral aroma, with notes of wildflower honey (it smells like a field in springtime - melodramatic, I know, but it’s kind of true) - despite the carbonation, the beer is quite soft - very floral, with lavender being the most prominent - moderately dry, with just a touch of honey sweetness to keep it from being too much so - very subdued and pleasant.

This reminds me of Saison Dupont. Sour aroma. More barnyard weirdness than many saisons, or biere de gardes. Cloudy. Flavor has wheat and spices, some citrus.