Amber Dreams of Electric Sheep
Garden Path Fermentation

A mini-gusher up opening Pours an effervescent & somewhat murky amber with a thumb of beige colored head. Minimal head retention & lacing, never comes close to clearing up

S: Pears, white grapes, hints of cinnamon

T: Follows the nose, dryness & green apple skins as well up front. Some caramel on the edges, more pear & white grape notes, mostly musty notes, a touch of funk too, some lemony notes & much oaky dryness once this beer is warm. Finishes a little tart/ a little sour with a little pear & golden delicious apple

MF: Light/medium bodied, fairly lively carbonation that flattens out over time, a little grainyness

This was a little too disjointed for me, drinkable, but not by much. True to the style, but just not bringing the flavor to my liking

Poured from 16oz can into my Belvárosi sörfesztivál tulip.

Appearance: lovely amber hue with a moderate haze and two fingers of frothy tan foam atop. A lovely bière de garde.

Smell: toasty malt aroma with a light tartness; what hits me right away is how floral this beer seems. A nice combination of floral and citrus notes along with a lovey farmhouse funk ... this is a great-smelling beer.

Taste: malt is more caramelly than toasty, with a bit of sweetness and a light tartness that works very well. There's a bit of funk, perhaps not as rich as in the aroma, but still very nice. I like it.

Mouthfeel: medium-light body with a big carbonation and a decent creaminess.

Overall: a highly drinkable, tasty, and subtle beer. I could drink the heck out of this one.

My second in consecutive days in which Garden Path has befuddled me with excellence.
Again I find masters of the wild yeast applying it to a traditional farmhouse style so that the style improves and the "Wild" is less relevant and more like a fifth ingredient.

And again, as a traditionalist, I say "This is how wild yeast should be used... to show another dimension to an age-old style." So of course, I think this should be classified as a biere de garde as the brewer says so on the label. But since this was bottled 16 months ago, it is best to go with Wild for now. But if there is a re-release, I vote Biere De Garde.

I rarely see so powerful a foam; it quietly would not quit and I had to fill two chalices (a Chimay and St. Feullien) before I could be sure that it would not overflow the bottle's top. Smells are less spectacular, but are more subtle: barnyard meets amber malts and oak. Tastes are hard for me to describe, so I will cop-out and say: sweet and tannic is hard to do. This mystery can sit in my mouth as long as it wants and as often as it wants.

I paired it with my world-famous ratatouille and it acted like a great biere de garde; ignoring my mistakes and accenting my strengths in this batch. I also had a tangy sourdough to soak up all the flavors and this pairing stole the show.

I only met Garden Path yesterday and I am a fan. I am so happy for these talented brewers who are creating their art and nutrition from the terroir of the climatic cross-section we call the Skagit Valley. Bravo !

Funky yeast noteS. The foam exited the bottle in contorting shapes when left open for a few minutes. Dad says tastes “delicate.” I’m getting big bold yeast flavor followed by a somewhat floral botanical finish.

 

this is subtle, especially in the context of their other stuff, but its awesome beer, the texture is amazing, and its lightly funky while being malty sweet a bit too, to call this an amber ale is to grossly understate what all this is. woody and autumnal, bretty and weird without being acidic at all, mushrooms and soil and earthy dankness, and understated and mellow all the way through, but incredibly unique overall. its lightly hazy amber color, lighter than many, with a gorgeous frothy off white head from the tap, i feel lucky to score this one in this format. it smells like an amber, crystal malt richness and earthy toasted qualities, subtle raisin and honey, i think there is actually honey in this. nutty in taste, lightly sweet, farmy without being sour or too wild on the yeast side, almost biere de garde or french saison-esque there, cool with all the malt, really unconventional, and the keg conditioning is also excellent here. golden raisin, fig, white pepper and clove, oak tannins, red wine, and straw.very cool beer, frothy and creamy and drinkable, different, clever, and good. even the more subtle garden path beers have been great. this is a lot of effort but it shows. sometimes its only moderately challenging to make an A, but impossibly hard to make an A+, the extra attention to detail matters a lot to this. bravo!

This is version 2 of this beer. the first version seems to not have been entered. Served in Nonic. Poured a very muddy dark yellow color with 3/4 inch of white head that good retention, but only OK lacing.

The aroma had solid base malts, and spicy, funky yeast notes.

Same on the palate, with the yeast blasting a bit bolder.

The body was smooth and even, with a medium finish.

Drinkability was very nice, I could easily knock back a couple pints.

Overall, a pretty nice brew, certainly worth a shot if you see it.

Slightly pungent, balanced, a classic with elegance, finishes with herbs rather than fruit tart. Of wild tales at a modest a ABV, 6%, this is really quite beautiful.