L'Abbatiale De Saint Amande Blonde
Brasserie des Sources

Brown 75cl bottle, corked and caged, drank during my second French beer evening.

Poured into four different glasses in one pour, each glass took some yeast sediment and the golden yellow colour got hazier with the final glass being dull orange in appearance.

The aroma was earthy and yeasty.

I was expecting a stronger taste and mouthfeel overall. The last glass was by far the best, sweeter and with a whole host of flavours compared to the clearer poured glasses.

A strange beer to call, I would have another if I saw it again, this one was obtained from a drinks warehouse near the channel ports in France.

Purchased at the UTOBEER stall, Borough Market, S. London. BB DEC 2006, served lightly-chilled in a large Burgundy bulb wine glass. The label states that this blond beer is "delicately flavoured with juniper berries. A genuine recipe from the Middle Ages"--interesting.

A: pours a cloudy, dark orangey golden hue, a fluffy white beer head settles really fast to a rimmed foam, while carbonation retains its liveliness for at least five minutes, full of microscopic fizz.
S: the smell is more like a Belgian pale ale than any saison/bier de garde--a lightly perfumy citrus/sweet lemony fruitiness combines with semi-exciting pineapple-ish note, sitting on top of melted rock-sugar, creamy and honey-ish pale malts, laced at the back with a faintly sour touch of yeasts and, yeah, berries--juniper berries of course~~ Not extremely complex, albeit quite pleasant with a smooth profile.
T: semi-spicy as well as sour-sweet fruity yeastiness upfront along with a semi-effervescent texture, mild in flavour; gradually the sugary maltiness develops along with a kick of sweet lemony (and slightly orangey) fruitiness and a sour input of berries or the sort, before turning semi-dryish and slightly-tangy, with warming alc. emerging only at the very back of the tongue in the very end of tasting.
M&D: carbonation is pretty mild and soothing, not intrusive at all, and helps to highlight the overall yeasty flavour just fine. Alas, the balance gears towards the thin-ish end, without abundant/complex flavours to make it shine. Can't say if it's Bier de Garde or Belgian Pale Ale, but the yeastiness is the main theme shared by both styles I'm sure. Overall, not bad, but nothing I'd feel like revisiting any time soon.

The beer pours a translucid gold color, the head prodigious and spumescent, the lace is a fine covering of the glass, both a bright white. Dominated my the malt, citrus crisp or somewhat lemon like, fresh and pleasant, start has a distinct malt feel, lightly sweet, the top middling in its feel to the palate. Potently acidic, the hops understated but noticeable and the after taste as dry as they come, drinkable and something worth a try, for the Belgian lovers

33cl bottle: This is a a dark golden color. Pretty hazy, with lots of little yeasties floating around in there. Yeasty aroma, maybe with some hints of fruits, lemons along with some other uidentifiable ones. A hint of some spices also. The taste is kind of bland. Tastes a bit like alcohol and yeast, with a touch of sourness. Not a real good example of the style.