Time To Get A Little Wild
Since New Belgium became available here in Georgia, all we’ve seen is Fat Tire, 1554 Ale, Mothership Wit, and their new Hoptober (which I will review soon). So far we haven’t been able to try some of their more adventurous beers. But when we were in Asheville a few weeks ago I found a bottle from their Lips Of Faith Series, the Biere De Mars and decided I better try it and review it. The Biere De Mars is supposed to be an American Wild Ale which has Brettanomyces, a wild yeast strain, added for bottle conditioning. This usually imparts a slightly sour, funky flavor. So, I decided to match it up with something that you usually see running around in a barnyard, Chicken, which I of course cooked on the Big Green Egg:
This was a pretty good beer. I haven’t had a lot of examples of this style but I am becoming a big fan of it. The beer had a bit of a “barnyard funk” along with some Lemon and other citrus. The sourness is not as pronounced in the taste (which was a bit of a bummer) as it is in the smell. The citrus stands out ahead of the sour. It’s a bit sweet and is lighter bodied. The aftertaste brings back the sour flavors. It is a fairly well balanced and refreshing beer but I was expecting a little more sour flavor than what I got. It did pair very well with the chicken and the arugula salad I prepared. This is a great combo!
Here’s the score:
1. Appearance- 7 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 8 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 18 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 8 points (out of 10)
Total 41 (out of 50) Points-4 Mugs
