Verdun
Brewery Vivant

 

 

 

Never heard of this one, odd since they are local, but it looks like they unretired it. Mox nix, here we go
Poured looking like apple juice in that it had very little head and virtually no lacing, which I thought rather odd. But it did have constant carbonation so go figure.
The aroma was mild for me, but my sniffer is damaged from working with chemicals. What I did get was good. Fresh and clean.
The taste, wow, started out complex and amazing - fruity from the malts I'm thinking as there was no bitterness at all and interplay between that and the yeasts provided a bit of depth. Apples and pears and white grape, a little spice and very refreshing.
The feel was a bit more viscous than expected, but it's 7% ABV so maybe they want you to sip it.
This would be flat out amazing were it sessionable and less expensive. I'd drink a lot of this over the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

$ 14.83/four pack (Including discount and tax) of 16 ouncers ($ 0.232/oz) at Oppermann’s, Saginaw, MI.
16 oz can dated 101216 stored at 42 degrees. Served at 42 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – not much. Very faint fruitiness.
Head – large (Maximum 6.5 cm, aggressive pour), off white, fizzy, average retention, diminishing to an irregular two to three mm ring and partial layer.
Lacing – poor. A few tiny islands and drag marks.
Body – amber, cloudy.
Flavor – A mild apple cider taste, slightly tart. No hops, no toasted malt, no alcohol, no yeast per se, no diacetyl.
Palate – light, watery, soft carbonation.

A light and refreshing beer, pleasant and easily swallowed. I’m definitely not detecting the “light anise aroma of French hops”. Still, a good beer which I’ll pick up whenever Irun across it.

Appearance 3.75, Aroma 3, Flavor 4, Palate 4, Overall 3.75.

 

Pours a slightly cloudy golden brown color and is highly carbonated, but no head. Smell is sweet with fruity ester aromas. Taste is very complex. It's slightly fruity, malty and a little tart in the back of the throat. First beer of this style and I'm very impressed. It's ashame this style is not more popular and there isn't more choices of this.

16 ounce can into tulip glass; no can dating, but is a recent release. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy orange/amber/light copper color with a 2 finger fairly dense and fluffy off white head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big melon, pear, apricot, apple, white grape, light banana/clove/pepper, honey, caramel, toasted biscuit, herbal, light funk, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of fruity/earthy yeast and moderate dark/bready malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big melon, pear, apricot, apple, white grape, light banana/clove/pepper, honey, caramel, toasted biscuit, herbal, light funk, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal bitterness and yeast spice/tartness on the finish; with lingering notes of melon, pear, apricot, apple, white grape, honey, caramel, toasted biscuit, herbal, light funk, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/earthy yeast and moderate dark/bready malt flavors; with a great malt/yeast balance, and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Minimal dryness from bitter/spiciness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy, and lightly silky mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol for 7%. Overall this is a great Biere de Garde. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/earthy yeast and moderate dark/bready malt flavors; very smooth, easy, and pretty refreshing to drink. Awesome yeast/malt balance; and not overly sweet or heavy feeling. A really enjoyable offering.

Appearance: pours a copper color with some burnt orange hues to it. a finger or two of an off white head with good retention and leaving behind a frothy lacing. a bit of haze to it and just shy of opaque.

Smell: a blend of malts and yeast hits first. caramel malt sweetness, bready to toasted grains, phenols, some light tartness and fruitiness. some spicy to herbal hop character.

Taste: opens with some yeast phenols, mostly some light clove and some pepper. a bit of tartness comes in before being overtaken by huge caramel malt sweetness. malt complexity opens up with toasted grains and a good amount of breadiness. some dark fruits find there way in with a bit of return of the tartness. ends with some light hop character

Mouthfeel: lots of sweetness but ends a little on the dry side. good balance with no lingering sweet or bitter.

Overall: another nice de garde from Vivant. achieves a nice balance with the yeast being there but muted, the malts tasty and complex and the hops are just there enough to balance and add complexity. I can't think of any American brewers that do a de garde quite like or quite as good as Vivants

I picked up a can of Brewery Vivant's Verdun for $3.29 at The Lager Mill. I've been waiting on this beer for a while and I'm interested how it stacks up to their North French Style Ale which is one of my favrorites of the style, so lets see how it goes. 2016 Vintage. Poured from a tall 16oz can into a teku.

A- The can looks good, it has a nice design to it and it's a little eye catching. It poured a darker orange color which takes on more of a brighter orange color when held to the light and half a fingers worth of off white head that died down to a thin ring that eventually faded away and it left a little bit of spotty lacing behind. This is a pretty nice looking beer, but I wish the lacing and head retention were a little better.

S_ The aroma starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with a very fruity aroma being the first to show up and it imparts some apple and apple juice like aromas with some stone fruits showing up in the background and it's followed by the yeast which imparts a slightly funky and slight sour aromas. Towards the end comes the malts which are on the lighter and impart a light pale malt and grainy aroma. This beer has a nice aroma, I was expecting a little more complexity.

T- The taste seems to be pretty similar to the aroma and it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with that same big fruity aspect being the first to show up and it imparts a big apple and apple juice like flavors with a little more stone fruits showing up than they did in the aroma. Up next comes the yeast which imparts hardly any funkiness and just a light amount of tartness with the malts showing up next and they show up just as much as they did in the aroma and impart all the same aspects. On the finish there's a pretty light amount of tartness with an apple juice like aftertaste. This is a decent tasting beer, but the flavors are pretty bland for the style and they aren't fully what I look for in the style.

M- Smooth, slightly refreshing, not too crisp, on the slightly lighter side of being medium bodied with a lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is nice, but I wish it had more carbonation.

Overall I thought this was a decent beer and I thought it was pretty close to being an average example of the style, not much stuck out about and it really isn't what I have in mind when I think about the style. This beer had ok drinkability, one is enough for me, it would start to wear on me after that. What I like the most about this beer is the appearance, it's a pretty nice looking beer. What I like the least about this beer is the taste and drinkability, they weren't the greatest and they aren't what I fully expect from the style. I don't think I would buy this beer again, but I might not turn one down and I can;t say I would recommend as a must try for the style. All in all this isn't a bad beer, but it didn't have all the biere de garde aspects that I was looking for and I would much rather have their North French Style Ale, I thought that was a better beer in every aspect. It's now one of my least favorite Vivant beers and it's pretty close to average for the style. Better luck next time guys, I think you should just bring back North French Style Ale.