Biere de Nord: Tasting Notes

These are the tasting notes for Biere de Nord, the biere de garde that I brewed and is partly inspired by Hill Farmstead Biere de Norma, and also by the historical biere de garde information mentioned in Phil Markowski's amazing Farmhouse Ales.  The beer utilized mostly French Pilsner malt, adding in a few other malts to add complexity and depth.  I like the bready character provided by amber malt, and the toasty, faint nuttiness provided by aromatic and brown malt.  Finally, a bit of CaraMunich for caramel and sweetness.  The hops were kept to a minimum in order to let the malt and, more importantly, the yeast, shine.

Appearance: I let a bit too much sediment get into the bottles at bottling, which requires leaving a good half inch in the bottom of the bottle, but perhaps that allowed the beer to develop faster.  Leaving the dregs behind, beer pours a fairly-clear deep amber with a nice head that has a slight reddish hue.

Nose: The first whiff is fresh strawberry coupled with pungent raspberry jam.  A bit of vinous grape in the background.  A touch of bread and sweet malt, but mostly quite fruity.  Hints of leather as it warms.

Flavor: Also focused on the jam aspect with just a touch of warming alcohol through the finish.  The oak from the red wine-soaked oak cubes is felt just a touch here as well.  A bit more of the Brett L leather than in the nose.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with low, but acceptable, carbonation, which is what I was aiming for at 2.4 volumes, mimicking beers like the aforementioned Hill Farmstead Biere de Norma and BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien. A bit of residual sweetness, but overall fairly dry.

Overall: I'm really pleased with this beer, especially being my first attempt at the style.  This was before I really got into pH and water chemistry (only using 5.2 buffer here), though I don't know that I would change much, other than matching the Alexandria, Virginia water profile used to brew the beer as opposed to the Chicago (Lake Michigan) water that I use now.  I would also maybe add a bit more of the oak cubes to impart slightly more red wine character, or age it a bit longer on the cubes.

Biere de Nord: Recipe

After brewing the second batch of Demeter Auran this past Sunday, I'll also brewed my first attempt at a biere de garde.  This will be more of a farmhouse version of the style, not being entirely controlled other than in the initial stages.  I went with a standard European Ale yeast at low temperatures for primary, and then will lager for about a month.  After that, I plan to get the beer into a keg for long-term aging with red wine-soaked oak cubes and Brettanomyces Lambicus, along with dregs from Citrine.  The hope is that the initial fermentation will take the beer to a fairly low gravity, and from there I can get some earthy and cherry character from the Brett, along with a bit of acidity from the Citrine dregs.  The red wine will hopefully add a nice touch, and I'll probably keep it to a relatively-small amount for a longer period of time.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 63
Brew Date: March 10, 2013
Bottle Date: October 6, 2013
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.072 (est.)
FG: 1.005 (est.)
Fermentation Temperature: Ambient (~65 F)
IBU: 25.1
ABV: 7.9% (est.); 8.2% (act.)
SRM: 15.7

Mash: Single infusion for 90 minutes at 148 F.
Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

12lb French Pilsner
12oz Caramunich Malt
8oz Aromatic Malt
4.2oz Amber Malt
2oz Brown Malt
2oz Carafa III

Hops

1.75oz Fuggles (4 AAU) at 60 minutes

Other

1 Tbsp 5.2 buffer in mash
Red-wine soaked medium toast French oak cubes (.75 ounces in secondary)

Yeast

White Labs WLP011 (European Ale): 2L starter made several days beforehand
Wyeast Brettanomyces Lambicus (secondary)
Ambrosia Citrine dregs
BFM Sq. Rt. 225 Historical Saison dregs

Notes

03.10.2013: Brewday.  Everything went off without a hitch.  The batch got 30 seconds of straight oxygen, and then went into a corny with a blowoff tube for fermentation.

03.11.2013: Strong fermentation after 24 hours.

Unrecorded (lost to computer glitch): After lagering, added a smackpack of Wyeast Brettanomyces Lambicus.  Assume based on date for bottling below that the beer started lagering after 2-3 weeks and then lagered for 4 weeks, so was on the wine-soaked oak cubes and dregs for about 5 months.

10.06.2013: Bottled to achieve approximately 2.4 volumes of CO2. Given that the beer is somewhat inspired by BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien, I also added the dregs of a bottle of BFM Historical Sq. Rt. 225 Saison before bottling.

06.30.2014: Tasting notes.