Pear Reine Des Renards
Off Color Brewing

Pours a very clear, very bright light amber with minimal fizzy white head that dissipated almost immediately. The aroma is pretty much exactly what I want it to be with tons of earthy funk, some oak, and faint pears. The taste is consistent with the aroma, but there's a depth and complexity to it that I'm digging. Definitely some wine vibes from this one as well. Light and lively. Good beer.

Received from @fbarber in the NBS BIF. Poured from 8.5 oz. bottle into a Stange. It pours a hazy, golden amber color with a small, ecru head and almost no lacing. The nose is pleasant with funky, oaky pear that is quite sweet. The taste is sweeter than I expected. The notes of ripe pear and apple are strong and the sourness of the native yeast is fairly muted. Beneath the fruit is a solid, crackery malt base from the Pils, CaraWheat, and Vienna malts. There is a strong oak presence and hints of tart lemon, allspice, and Chardonnay grape. The mouth feel is rich and somewhat syrupy with appropriate carbonation, and the 7.8% ABV gives it good substance. Pear is one of my favorite fruits and I enjoyed this Flemish Blonde Ale. I expected it to be more sour but it's a great entree for someone inexperienced with Wild Ales.

 

 

 

Had on tap. Clear amber body with a white ring and spotted lacing. Aromas of the calvados meets the pear resulting in a pear cider combo, with accents of lemon peel, oak, candi sugar, flower fields and a kiss of caramel. Taste is an absolute joy, calvados and apple depth is wonderful, pear is soft yet omnipresent, rich oak, light candi sugar, balancing dry earth and malt, lemon peel, flowers, date, a kiss of red grape, all present in a soft matrix, so artful. Feel is luxorious in how smooth and refined it is, no sign of booze in the feel, soft, yet decently thick, liqueur like. An imaginative elevated vision that hits it out of the park

 

The way tarts were intended to taste.
I'm a big fan of Off Color, particularly since they have shown they can tame their tarts to suit a malt-head like me.

Pear's first pouring into my Off Color tulip is surprisingly clear (the second pour, less so as it had the yeast for conditioning.) Smells are mostly the hard fruit medley of apples and pears, then lemon, then a tad of wild funk, then the barrel. Tastes have the same balance, but the dryness grows as it sits in my mouth and, occasionally, tries to get sweeter but never really does. Good contrast.

I'm tempted to finish this second glass now, but am going to save some to improve a mediocre dinner I'm preparing. Cheers !

Report on dinner: the roasted potatoes had two sauces. Pear paired better with the mustard sauce than the BBQ. (Somehow BBQ needs a gentle lager.)

Brassy golden orange tone, a finger of foam initially that quickly fades to a thin ring around the edges, with flecks of seafoam lacing that adhere to the glass.

Aroma is complex with a hefty amount of fruit backed by oak and some citric lemon acidity. More apple than pear, which must be the calvados. A touch of toasted cheerios from THP, but thankfully not overly distracting here.

Crisp mouthwatering acidity, apple, lemon, pear melange. Off-dry finish, there is some initial sweetness, light drying oak in the finish. Puckering lemon and passionfruit or maybe even calamansi. Mild Brett funk in the background. Lighter feel with spritzy carbonation. The barrel treatment and fruit addition is a really nice upgrade from the original batch of Reine, which was great already.

Thanks to Thomas & Jenny for this one!

Pours a burnished copper color. Somewhat cloudy, but still clear enough to see through. Thin one finger white velvety head dissipates steadily leaving, ultimately, no residual head outside of a ring of foam along the outside of the top of the beer.

Aroma has notes of grain, ripe apples, bartlett pear, green pear, wet oak, candied sugars and a light musty funky note.

Taste is more tart than you'd expect from the nose with a strong tart apple like note up front. If you get that beer on the tip of your tongue its pretty tart. Underneath that you get a malty backbone of cereal grains with lovely notes of Bartlett pears, green pears, apple, candied sugar, and oak. The calvados notes come through a bit with that sweet apple and oak character. There is a bit of sweetness to the beer, but its not sweet by any stretch - more so it just helps cut the tartness of the beer.

Feel is light to medium bodied. Vibrant and lively. Semi-dry on the finish.

Overall a lovely beer from Off Color.