La Choulette Blonde

Finally got around to drinking this purchase I made last September in St. Louis. For some reason, as it sat in my beer rack, I remembered buying a lambic. Some memory. This is a traditional biere de garde. Fruity. Light. Not bad at all.

There’s a picture showing the look, so im skipping that one. Aroma is that of sweet toffe along with some spicy notes. Flavor is again sweet malty with a soft fresh mouthfull and a very subdued alchohol.

75 cL bottle, BB 4/25/07 (oops). Bready, lightly spicy aroma. Hazy orange tinged golden color with small bits and small bubbles. My pour was nothing like the picture, but being 8 months overdate may account for it. The white head was enthusiastic, but left rapidly. Medium bodied with creamy, slightly fizzy, carbonation. There’s biscuit, some heat down the sides of the throat, something of lush ripe stone fruit in a dry way, light spice, very smooth in the mouth. The finish is more dry than not, with something like citrus lurking around the edges. I could drink this indefinitely.

75 cl bottle, BB 4/25/07. Poured hazy deeper golden with a creamy cap of white head.. some tenuous lacing followed it down. The aroma had an unfortunate air of sour vinegary notes masking a lot more interesting and enjoyable character.. deeper down were some hay, peppery yeast, and bready notes along with a pinch of lemon (which could have been associated with the apparent infection). The flavor was again marred by sour vinegar and light fruity notes.. dry bready notes and tacky, spicy yeast notes settled into the background a bit.. a bit of white pepper and more vinegary sourness at the finish. Medium-bodied with higher carbonation and lots of sourness.. dry and dusty.. I’ll have to try this again sometime.

Bottle@Home. Grainy and grassy aroma. Hazy, large off-white head, good lace. Sweet, licorice, dough. Medium body. Flavorful, not complex.

750ml bottle, refermented. Pours a peach amber with dissipating slightly frothy head. Lots of suspended sediment in the pour. The nose is very strong hay, like shoving your head in a barn, some weird notes like chlorine, sushi rice, and honeydew melon, very strong honey both on nose and palate, rather velvety, pretty solid body, medicinal herby bitterness on the slightly dry, lager-like finish. Not sure how this rates up against the style, the other biere de gardes seemed a lot maltier, but this one certainly seems unique, if not mind-blowing.

8/17/05. 750ml. best by Oct. 2004. Clear golden with small off white head. Light yeasty aroma. Heavy malt backbone with tart ending. Slightly flat.

Caged corked 750 ml. green bottle, blurb on the back label, printed best before date in the center of label (30.11.07), sampled in a tulip glass. Yeast sediment is visible in the bottom. Orangy golden in color, a little floating sediment did make it into the glass, small foamy white head that settled into a thin slightly sudsy lacing. A light earthy musty yeast aroma is the first smell I noticed, followed by fruity esters, green pears and apples. Spices I pick up are mainly clove along with soft Noble hops. The malts are in the background, sweet toasted caramel. Crisp and dry tasting, the light body is firm from the carbonation, oily on the tongue. Medium hop bitterness and Noble tasting, herbal spicy. Earthy, musty yeast, clove and aniseedy spices, everything seems to be pinched in the right proportions. The fruitiness is raw pears and green apple skins. Toasted malts, grainy and sweet caramel. Especially dry finish, the spices and toasted caramel lingering a bit in the palate. The alcohol is barely noticeable, just a nice warming presence. I personally found this to be a very enjoyable Bière de Garde with the unique tastes that I like in the style. An easy sipper, another first rate French ale from this family owned brewery.