Ommegang Biere de Mars

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Bière de Garde
Cooperstown, New York USA

Pours dark golden to orange with a mostly receding off-white head. Aroma of tart fruit, citrus and apple, lactic acid and funk. Taste is moderately funky from the brett, not sour, well balanced with mango and herbal hop notes. Medium bodied with light acidity and lively carbonation.

Nice burnt orange with big bubbly white head. Delicate nose-floral, dirty socks, leather, some bready malt hiding back there somewhere, citrus-orange/tangerine. Flavor-has that interesting muting effect that brett has-it’s like the flavor is being squashed against my tongue by a smooth burlap sack, which is then dragged (pleasantly) down my throat through the finish. Slightly spicy. A little much carbonation, washed away some of the delicate flavors. Finish has a dry mouthwatering tangy dirtiness-brett fo sho. Nice.

American Beer #2500. Copper color with a towering head. Insanely carbonated. A very light brett aroma. A little banana. Bretty, horsey, slightly lemony flavor. Some dusty hops, perhaps Strisselspalt. A little floral finish. Not too shabby. I hadn’t realized this was a brett beer and that definitely made me a little nervous (spiking a beer with brett is the new "let’s throw everything into a bourbon barrel"), but it came out nicely.

Pours a hazy orange with a massive creamy head that recedes slowly to a big cap and leaves good lacing. The aroma is dominated by what smells like sour green apples, with plenty of fruity tartness. There is the sweet yeast in the background that lends a bit of spiciness to the aroma. There is a hint of funk in there as well. The taste is slightly sweeter than the aroma with the fruits showing more with pears and some apples. There tartness is there but more subtle and the funk comes in only as an afterthought in the finish. The mouthfeel is crisp, clean and dry in the finish. The carbonation is very active. This is a very solid, crisp and clean beer from Ommegang. One of the better beers I’ve tasted in this style.

Bottle. Reddish amber pour and a little bit of head. Aroma is fruity malt and lightly tart white wine. Flavor is the same with some grainy malt in the finish. Pretty nice and soft with enjoyable flavor.

Pours a orange color. Nose is brett and bready malts. Flavor is brett funk, barnyard, grassy and yeasty. Very dry finish.

Peachy orange-gold fuzziness gives out exuberant tart fruity aromas over an absurdly over-active head. This beer looks and smells like Christmas!!! There is a sort of brett-like funk over the smell and taste, am I drinking the bastard child of Saison Dupont?? Spices, juicy ripe golden delicious-bartlett-pear fruits, citrus, and bright friendly hops all merrily abound in a lightly dry-feeling and quenching quaff. It’s just a bit dilute and ’un-complex- as is the Hennepin, and THAT robs Ommegang Mars of its full palatal and olfactory glory - slightly!! 75cl was slightly expensive at Premier, but this beats out Hennepin IME.

I like the bottle. How often do you get to see Mars on stuff? Not often enough. This batch is from November of 2008. Thick head stands proud over a glass of perfect copper-colored goodness. The nose is filled with grass, yeast (lots o’ that), spices, and fruit. Fizzy at first, the sip slips away leaving the tongue lightly coated with a faint, then slyly growing sensation of hops saying, "hello!" I’m not a huge fan of the hoppier beers, but this one is nice and nicely done.