Bières23 Bière Ambre (Amber Beer)

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

I pulled this beer from the cellar and I noticed that it had some bubbles rising up through it even before I had popped the cap (live beer indeed). With my 25cl tulip glass waiting at the ready, I was prepared to catch the foam from this slow gusher. A careful pour produces a pale, frothy head. The beer doesn't show near as much carbonation as I would have expected, but does show a nice amber hue and a lightly hazed, amber-copper hue when held up to the light. The aroma has a soft fruitiness to it up front (plum and apple) that is backed by a more earthy, slightly musty and some definitely farmhouse fruity cheese like notes towards the finish. The fruitiness is the most prominent aromatic note here, with the funkiness just being an ever-so-light character that sort of accents things. Touches of cracker like grain are noticeable if you dig for them. This has a nice soft nose to it that is a bit more interesting than you might expect upon first blush.

Fruity tasting up front, but really doesn't have much sweetness to it. The fruit character aromatically explodes as the beer hits the tongue and the notes of apple, tart-aromatic plum and currant seems to permeate my taste buds as they linger on in the palate after each sip. The beer was served at about 61°F / 16°C or so, which I am sure accentuates the fruit notes. There is a touch of sharpness here; a slight bitterness, some definite peppery carbonation, a slight herbal hop character (that seems to accentuate some berry like notes as well). This definitely has a nice black pepper character to it including the berry side of the peppercorn; this is influenced by a sort of woody note and a sort of phenolic influence here that is not quite plastic. This last seems like the first kiss of Brettanomyces influences and leaves me wondering where this beer might be heading; the phenolics are extremely subtle right now, but would certainly explain the continued bottle fermentation.

An interesting beer; there seems to be a bit of oxidation that is starting to take hold of this beer, things are starting to taste just a little stale around the edges. Honestly it seems to be half way in between a too old lighter beer and a funky complex awesome beer; give this 6 months to a year for the Brett to develop and I have a feeling this will be fantastic.

Purchased: Liquid Solutions