French Country Spring Ale (Biere De Mars)
McKenzie Brew House

First had: on tap at Johnny Brenda's, Philly, PA

A crisp, spring seasonal. Poured a golden-yellow with a small white head. Nice lacing. Biscuity aroma with light fruits and light spices noticeable. Sweet, toasted malts in the taste, bready, grassy, a bit of hay, with notes of orange zest, apple and apricot, and a tad of spice. Complex but not overly exotic. Light-medium mouthfeel, and nicely balanced for easy drinkability.

Appearance: light orange in color with a 1" head that falls pretty quick. Nice lacing develops during the session.

Smell: light bitterness and fruit tones are easily detectable. Overall very pleasant on the nose.

Taste: nice malt profile. Caramel, green grapes, Granny Smith apples, pepper, and a nice bitterness make up the major flavor components. A very soft barnyard taste is hidden in the background.

Mouthfeel: crisp from start to finish. Very short aftertaste. Medium bodied beer.

Drinkability: this beer really grew on me as the pint emptied. This was another spectacular beer that can be quaffed for a period of time without changing styles.

Appearance – My first beer from Mckenzie's. Poured into my oversized wineglass from a growler that was carried back for me by my good friend Mat. The beer pours slightly hazy yellow-amber, with a thin white head that sinks slowly leaving a nice creamy ring of lacing at the top of the glass.

Smell – Nice toasty malt aroma, typical for a Biere De Garde. Strong spicy noble hop aroma. Relatively clean fermentation, with mild fruitiness.

Taste – Solid, upfront hop herbal bitterness with strong underlying toasted malt. Its a solid beer, maybe a bit overly bitter for my taste, but other than that it is close to the French versions that I have had.

Mouthfeel – This is my second day drinking this growler and the carbonation has subsided a bit, but yesterday it had medium carbonation and a moderately full body.

Drinkability & Notes – An easy beer to drink, with all of the flavors that you expect for the style. Despite this is just doesn't put those flavors together as well a the paragons of the style, still one of the two or three best American BDG's that I've had.

Pours out of the growler a light cloudy yellow with a tall foamy white head. Nice sticky rings of lace were left around the glass. Plenty of fruit in the aroma mixed with earthy and slightly funky yeast notes. Some doughy malt as well. Flavor starts a bit funky before an abundance of fruit flavors surface. Lightly spicy with hops and bitter earthy notes. Smooth sweet finish with a hint of spice. Smooth and crisp as it went down very easily. I could have went through another growler had I got two. Enjoyable and refreshing.

Screw-cap growler provided via trade by meathookjones. Thanks for the opportunity. <first pint enjoyed at "front step" temp, 50ish, because there was slight leakage and I wanted "check" it out asap. LOL>

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1" bright white head over the clear amberish gold brew. Frothy head fades down pretty quick to small layer of foam, and leaves plenty of lacing in it's wake. Aroma is pale malt sweet with spicy hops. Taste follows the same idea, light grains giving way to a pleasing piercing hops (Saaz? I don't know my hops very well, but that idea came to mind), and an aftertaste of a melding of both, with a slight chalky feel. Mouthfeel and drinkability are both very nice, with d'bility up a notch just because this on a warm afternoon just hits the spot. Wouldn't mind revisiting this one, again and again...

A slightly hazy yellowish gold body is capped by a mountain of frothy white foam. Why this is served in a pint glass, I don't know. The head retention is limited, but that might be the glass, and it drops to a thin surface covering rather shortly. It does, however, leave some very nice lace at the outset.

The nose is malty sweet with a touch of floral and spicy hops and some chalky citrus peel.

In the mouth it's lightly zesty with a surprisingly dextrinous light-medium body and moderate carbonation.

The flavor is very much as the aroma suggests with little variance but greater depth. It's mainly malty with a hint of wheat and some delicate biscuity/toasty/hay-like character thrown in; and it's accented by some yeasty fruit and citrus-rind zest; and grassy/floral/spicy hops. The bitterness is kept in check, and it finishes dry with some more chalky, citrus-rind character.