750mL bottle consumed on 3/17/07
Not sure how old the bottle was upon arriving in the States, but it’s from a batch that got here probably in the late Spring/early Summer of 2006. So somewhere between 1 and 1.5 years old, most likely.
I don’t know what it is about this beer that so many people seem rather put-off in their ratings. I remember 4 or so years ago, this stuff was considered a pretty high tier beer. But recently, I’ve seen a lot of comments of it being too sweet (it’s a biere de garde), lager-like (it’s an ale), overly estery or fruity (again, a biere de garde, with a Belgian yeast) and too spicy (hops, come on people, the hop profile on this is about as traditional as it gets). And the rest of the people seem to have nothing bad to say, but still give it a poor score.
Well, anyways, I like it, obviously. I liked it quite a lot. Not overdone on the hoppiness, and seems to allow plenty of fun yeast nuance. Quite stinky when you first open the bottle, signs of a healthy yeast and quite a strong fermentation. It comes out with breathing and leaves behind it rich honey dough, almonds, lemons, sugar cookies and light caramel. Very zesty lemon-orange bitterness and hop flavor on the finish is delightful and very cleansing on the palate, though the beer never gets too sticky/sweet, being well-atteuated. Wonderful carbonation levels when given time to breath properly, allowing for a creamy, engaging carbonation, full lacing and strong head retention. Not thin in the least, despite what some people say.
Wonderful take on the style, without all the breadiness/earthiness that can sometimes muddle the style. Many similarities to a Belgian Strong Golden, but without some of the obnoxious alcohol apparency or dominant phenol character. I’m sure this takes to the cellar wonderfully. Now if they’d just bring back the Biere Nouvelle my part of town.