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Bière de Garde

Bière de Garde

This month (July 2022), Luke Russel gave us an overview of the Bière de Garde style of beer.

London Amateur Brewers

July 18, 2022
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Transcript

  1. Bière de Garde
    London Amateur Brewers
    Luke Russell

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  2. ◼ What Is Bière de Garde?
    ◼ Classic Examples
    ◼ Brewing Bière de Garde
    ◼ Recipes
    ◼ Resources
    ◼ Questions?

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  3. A malty French farmhouse beer
    Translates as “beer for keeping”. To Garde is to keep or to store -
    maturation at low temperatures (lagering).
    Historically brewed post-harvest to be enjoyed the following year.
    Not a French expression of Saison, but shared heritage.
    Three sub-styles: blonde, amber, and brown.
    Traditionally brewed in the departments Nord and Pas-de-Calais is
    Northern France.
    Seemingly disappeared from commercial production during the
    wars.
    ▪ What Is Bière de Garde?

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  4. Reintroduced by Brasserie Duyck with their Jenlain Ambrée in
    1950s to capitalise on interest in Belgian speciality beers amongst
    students in Lille.
    Can be difficult to find examples but are available from specialist
    bottle shops - or a road trip to Calais!
    Related styles include Bière de Printemps (Spring Beer, aka Bière de
    Mars) and Bière de Noël (Christmas Beer).
    Historical versions would likely have had some character from lactic
    acid bacteria and/or brettanomyces, but these are not appropriate
    for the modern interpretation.
    ▪ What Is Bière de Garde?

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  5. ▪ Classic Examples
    Duyck (Jenlain Blonde & Amber)
    Castelain (Ch’Ti Blonde & Amber)
    Les Brasseurs de Gayant (La Goudale)
    Thiriez (d’Esquelbecq Blonde & Amber)
    St. Sylvestre (Trois Monts, La Gavroche)
    La Choulette (Blonde, Sans Culottes, Amber)
    St. Germain (Page 24 Amber)
    Au Baron (Cuvée des Jonquilles)

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  6. BJCP 2021 Guidelines:
    OG - 1.060-1.080
    FG - 1.008-1.016
    ABV - 6-8.5%
    IBU - 18-28
    Colour (SRM) - 6-19
    Carbonation - 2.4-3.2 Volumes.
    Typically brewed with French or Belgian malts, Alsace-grown hops,
    and local water (typically hard - chalky area).
    It is a malt-forward style, with characteristic toasty and slightly
    sweet malt aromas and flavours. Hops are typically muted but may
    be more apparent in paler versions.
    Can be fermented with either an ale yeast (at cooler end) or a lager
    yeast (at higher end) but yeast characteristics are typically muted.
    Maturation/lagering is typically between 4-6 weeks.
    ▪ Brewing Bière de Garde
    Overview

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  7. Typically use French or Belgian malts.
    Blonde - Grist of 80-90% Pilsner and 10-30% Munich or Vienna.
    May include small percentages of specialty malts to help achieve a
    toasted character.
    Amber - There are two approaches to grist selection. Markowski
    terms these the traditional (majority pilsner, small amount of black
    malt, and a long (3+ hours) boil to achieve colour and deep malt
    flavour; and the modern (use of speciality malts to achieve the
    same effect).
    Brown - Grist of 45% Pilsner, 45% Munich, 5% Crystal, 5% Special B,
    and a touch of Carafa Special for colour.
    ▪ Brewing Bière de Garde
    Malt

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  8. Alsace-grown hops such as Brewers Gold & Strisselspalt
    Not readily-available, so German hops such as Hallertaur & Saaz;
    English hops such as EKG & Fuggles; or Slovenian hops such Styrian
    Goldings are also suitable. Anything which is floral, herbal, or spicy
    should work well.
    Generally only a bittering and perhaps a flavour addition at around
    30 minutes required. IBU:GU ration in region of 0.3-0.4.
    May be some more hop aroma in Blondes and Bière de Printemps.
    ▪ Brewing Bière de Garde
    Hops

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  9. WLP072 (French Ale), WLP073 (Artisan Country Ale) - these are
    vault/platinum releases so not available year-round.
    Good substitutions are WLP011 (European Ale), Kölsch, or Altbier
    Strains.
    Saison yeasts are generally not appropriate. Despite the name
    WY3725 (Bière de Garde) is thought to be from Brasserie Fantôme,
    so would not recommend.
    Phenols are not common, and esters are generally muted (fruity
    esters low-medium intensity).
    Fermentation followed by a period of lagering for 4+ weeks.
    ▪ Brewing Bière de Garde
    Yeast

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  10. Mid-high carbonation levels, would recommend 2.4-2.6 volumes.
    Typically packaged in Champagne-style bottles, corked, and bottle
    conditioned. Some haze is therefore acceptable.
    Works well in keg.
    Earlier BJCP Guidelines included reference to musty, cellared, or
    corked aromas and flavours as being desirable to the style. These
    have now been recognised as a fault due to handling issues or
    length of time it took examples to reach US audience.
    ▪ Brewing Bière de Garde
    Packaging

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  11. Brown is not a style I’m familiar with, so will concentrate on Blonde
    and Amber.
    Blonde is a Mean Brews Recipe and Amber is my recipe which
    scored 38 at LAB Open.
    ▪ Recipes
    Overview

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  12. ▪ Recipes
    Blonde
    OG - 1.072
    FG - Not provided
    ABV - Not provided
    IBU - 19.3
    EBC - Not provided
    88.9% Belgian Pilsner
    2.4% Aromatic Malt
    2.4% Biscuit Malt
    2.3% Caravienna Malt
    4.1% Clear Candi Sugar
    15 IBU Stryian Goldings @ 60 mins
    4.3 IBU @ 15 mins
    0.67g/l Saaz @ Flameout
    WLP550 (Belgian Ale) @ 19°c, rising to 21°c. Lagered for 4 weeks

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  13. ▪ Recipes
    Amber - My Recipe
    OG - 1.062
    FG - 1.014
    ABV - 6.4%
    IBU - 22
    EBC - 21
    78% Lager Malt
    11% Vienna Malt
    4.5% Caramunich Malt
    3% Aromatic Malt
    3% Dextrose
    0.5% Midnight Wheat
    13 IBU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh @ 60 mins
    9 IBU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh @ 20 mins
    WY1007 (German Ale) @ 16°c for 11 days. Increased to 20 °c for 3 days for
    diacetyl rest. Lagered for 6 weeks.

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  14. Phil Markowski, Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the
    Belgian Tradition (Boulder, Colorado: Brewers Publications, 2004).
    Mean Brews, 24C - Biere De Garde,
    (www.meanbrews.com/downloads).
    Garratt Oliver, The Oxford Companion to Beer (New York: The
    Oxford Press, 2011).
    Josh Weikert, Beer & Brewing. Make Your Best Brown Bière de
    Garde. (www.beerandbrewing.com).
    ▪ Resources

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  15. ▪ Questions?

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