7

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Draught pint on 10/6/06 with Dickinsonbeer. Malvern location.
Frothy white head rises up exuberantly atop a wonderfully conditioned (clear) amber-copper body with light marigold and peach tints. Retention is only moderate but light rings of lace are left behind.
Deep and earthy at first, the yeast and strisselspalts combine to give both a soily, mineral-like note that is then joined by some bready, moderately sweet malts. Like a rainy Spring day, some muted/wet herbal-grassiness is present on the end, as well as a fair amount of hop bitterness (moreso than expected). The malt is well-extracted and quite highly represented, as it should be for a biere de garde. Perhaps a little more fruitiness would give it more of a defining "biere de mars" character and the strisselspalt, while interesting, don’t quite provide as dry or lilacy an aroma as I would anticipate. Aroma strength is medium to medium-high, with no alcohol or brewing flaws perceived.
Sweet and chewy at first, with notes of thick, gooey white bread, almond paste, vanilla and light acids from the yeast, it certainly begins as more than a mouthfull. But it dries out significantly, with a very high amount of bittering hops for the style and plenty of tanginess and light grassiness. Minimally fruity, though some yellow fruits and black cherries do come to mind upon warming, I get more of an earthy, soily, damp-leaf effect from the hops. The mouthfeel shows medium amounts of fairly engaging carbonation matched by a softness from the malts. A bit too much acidity does build on the finish, however, be it from the hops or the yeast. Very drinkable though, and if I wasn’t so spoiled from trying McKenzie’s other (top-notch) Belgian styles, this might stand out more.