Archive for the 'Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes' category
Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes Cuvee du 7eme 2006
This is a beer that has been sitting in the beer fridge for quite some time. Unfortunately I did not mark the bottle’s label with the date of purchase, so I am not certain of the actual length of time. No real reason for the delay in its drinking, I think it just got intermingled with everything else in there (wine and other beer bottles) and got lost in the shuffle. Anyway, I decided to crack the bottle open to see what I have been missing.
A ton of carbonation is what I have been missing. This beer was a gusher! I stood by the sink for a good five minutes just sipping the carbonation as it came out of the top of the bottle (I did not want to waste any of the beer). Fortunately it was a rather controlled, but consistent, spewing of bubbles. If I had actually been able to pour this beer out initially, I am certain it would have been all head in my chalice.
Once the beer calmed down a bit, I was able to pour a nice brown bodied beer. The beer was topped with a light head, white in color. The aromas greeting me were of malt and fruit. The predominant fruit for my nose was one of raspberries. There were also mixings of blackberries, cherries and even some apple. These fruit aromas were not overwhelming however, and mixed well with the malt backing.
While sipping the beer the overwhelming thought I had was the beer was very similar to a Brut Champagne. I think the three factors for this were the beer’s drying quality, the steady carbonation, which played on the tongue, and the coalescing of the flavors. None of the beer’s aromas, which were not all that strong to begin with, stood out in the taste. I do not consider this a knock against the beer, because the taste was still enjoyable, but it was different. A slight deviation from the “Brut Champagne”- essence was a mild bitterness to the beer. This added a little more complexity to the taste, but was not distracting.
This beer would not be a frequent choice of mine, but I would have no issue picking it up again. Actually, if you have a celebration coming up, and you do not want to go the straight champagne route, this beer may fit the bill. Just mind the carbonation.
Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes La Meule
I recently had two beers found on the lighter side of the beer scale. First was Victory’s V-Saison, which Matt reviewed a while ago so I just added my thoughts to the comment section. Definitely a beer to check out. Second was a Swiss Golden Ale by Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) called La Meule. Switzerland holds a special place in my heart (I look back on both my trips to Switzerland with great affection), so when the beer manager at a local store mentioned he had just received some beers from Switzerland, I just had to pick them up. Lets see if this beer matches my fond memories of Switzerland.
First thing I noticed about this beer was the “brewed with the herb sage” written on the beer’s label. I do not cook frequently with sage, so I was not really sure I knew what sage smelled/tasted like. To remedy this I went out and picked up a pack of sage from the local grocery store. Having smelled and tasted (I would not suggest eating sage just by itself) the sage, I was ready to crack open one of the beers.
The beer poured a nice two fingers of white head into the pint glass. The first finger of head dissipated rather quickly but the remaining finger left a rather firm head of small bubbles. The body of the beer was straw in color with a fare bit of debris floating around, which made the beer quite foggy. Due to the action of the debris, I could tell there was some very nice bubble action happening in the glass.
In the nose this beer had a strong lemon citrus kick to it with some light yeast funk. Since lemon was the predominant smell, lemon was very present in the taste. The lemon taste had a sour flavor at the front of the mouth which finished with a bitterness quality towards the back. Overall mouth feel was on the chalky side of things, but was light and drying.
One thing you might have noticed is the lack of my mentioning sage in my sampling. Personally I could not find the sage in the smell or taste. It might have helped with the bitter finish of the beer, but there was nothing with the bitterness that said “I’m sage”. Due to my initial lack of sage findings, I went back a week later and tried the beer again. Again I personally could not find the sage.
Though rather one dimensional (lemon is the predominant character in this beer), I found this to be a refreshing beer. I found the overall qualities of the beer to lean towards the saison/farmhouse style, so let that factor guide you in your purchasing decision.
