BFM Cuvée du 7ème

Formerly brewed at BFM (Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes)
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Saignelégier, Switzerland

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

Bottle. 2006 vintage. Amber-brown (somewhat murky) beer with a big beige head. Slightly tart aroma, light malt and earthiness. Tart flavor with earth/spice and lemon and herbal tones. Medium body. LIngering tartness with herbal/earthy tones.

UPDATED: DEC 26, 2007 In short: A wild, dry and tart hoppy beer. Different and exquisite.
How: This rating is for a 750ml of the 2006 version drank late 2007. I also sampled the 2004 version (4.2/5) at a tasting session and it was quite different.
The look: Cloudy dark copper body topped by a little off-white ring of foam.
In long: Nose of apricots and those little dried oranges cubes. Right from the start you know you’re in for something different. Grainy and floury malts with a light caramel presence. Fruity notes are dried oranges, red grapefruits, pineapples, and other acidic/tart fruits. Strong pepper and coriander presence. But it is its unusual hops profile and kind-of-wild yeast signature really set this one apart. A distant reminder of my beloved Hitachino Classic Ale. An amazing different hop fix. Overall very tart and rather dry (sawdust) with a nice wilderness. Hard to describe. The problem is that it is quite expensive and if I drink that on a regular basis I’ll end-up as broke as broke as a hooker at a star-trek convention.

750 ml bottle, 2006. Cloudy amber with thick tan head. Aroma of nuts and toffee. Taste is malty with a fair amount of bitterness. Decent beer.

2006 bottle shared at Coastal Wine Connection’s monthly tasting. Very light flavors, malty and tart. Big frothy head over a hazy orange body. Bit of a spicy bite. OK, but at $19 a bottle, I’m glad I shared it.

Strong caramel and doughy malts are tempered by herbal, spicy, piquante hops in the aroma. Opaque, burnished copper coloured body is topped by a decent and lasting, fine bubbled, tan head that leaves some sudsy lacing. Caramel malts and herbal, floral, earthy, perfumey hops each have a chance to shine in the incredibly balanced yet assertive flavour. Earthy and woody notes are strong. Mineralic quality like a rock drying in the hot sun after a quick rain shower with pine trees and bracken. Medium body with strong, lively yet soft bubbled carbonation that engages the tongue and opens up the tastebuds. More please? Sampled at Mondial 2006.

Bottle from Holiday. Clear golden with a fizzy white head. Orange spice and hops aroma with a strong orange juice taste with a floral perfume taste to the finish. Decent.

Poured a hazy amber color with a large roacky off-white head. The aroma was citrusy and mildly tart with some yeasty dusty notes. The flavor was a mix of malt and citrusy hop. Big warming sensation for only 7.5 ABV. The finish was mild-moderately bitter and spicey.

750. Pours deep cloudy rubied brown with a comically massive head--pouring this beer is an exercise in patient deliberation. Ratio of head to beer for the first five minutes is about 10:1. Skyscraper of sudsy, fluffy mouse and occasionally spotty lace above a shallow puddle of actual beer. "six aromatic hops" sounds like at least two marketing lies in one, if not three--the nose is fairly subdued, all things considered. Yeah, there’s spice and pepper and a bit of funk there, and it’s a great nose, but I wouldn’t exactly advance my hop bill as the preeminent differentiator with this beer (if there is one). Medium body, active carb, forward flavors; nice attack. Mid-palate is a bunch of funk and dark rummy tree fruit. Tingly coriander around the edges, and a slightly puckery, slightly spicy finish. Nice stuff but not the finest BdG on the market by any means.