Brewery Ommegang Biere de Mars
Style: Belgian amber ale
6.5% ABV
Ratebeer.com: 95%
I'll start by admitting I'm on a sour / lactic / farmhouse beer kick at the moment and I'm a fan of other offerings by Brewery Ommegang. They're as close as you can get to an authentic Belgian brewery without buying a plane ticket.
Although there are many specific strains of beer, wine and baking yeasts, they all fall into the same species: Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Most of this beer is fermented with a Belgian yeast strain belonging to that species, but a part of it is fermented with another yeast, Brettanomyces bruxellensis. Brewers refer to this yeast commonly as "Brett", and wine makers spend millions of dollars so they never come in contact with 1 cell of the stuff.
There are wine makers who won't enter breweries that use Brett for fear of getting it on their clothes.
That's because Brett will turn things....well...sour and funky.
So that was my primary reason for picking this up
I got this beer for $13 for a corked and caged bomber. It's bottle conditioned with a whole lot of yeast on the bottom which requires careful pouring or decanting.
It pours with a white head which lingers but did not leave lacing on my glass.
The appearance is copper to amber and clear but not brilliant.
Hop spiciness and a bit of lactic funk in the nose.
The taste is dry a little over balanced towards the bitter (it's also dry-hopped) with a touch of a "wet horse blanket" or barnyard in the finish. The Belgian yeast and Brett come through in the flavor profile equally. It finishes quite dry and refreshing which makes it a very easy drinking beer.
Good execution overall. This would be a good beer to try for someone that likes Belgian styles but hasn't been introduced to Brett, sour or wild fermented beers.
I'd definitely buy it again, but not that often purely because of price.
On that note, I should say beers fermented with brett can take years to develop at the brewery...tying up tank space or barrels at great expense. Therefore these examples are rare, and equally expensive.
http://www.ommegang.com/index.php?mcat=1&scat=10&ssnl=1