The first beer of 2014: Avec les Bons Vœux de la Brasserie Dupont
Bright pale fruits—apples, pears, white grapes; possibly stone fruit like peaches; maybe a flicker of something more tropical—backed by bright and earthy spices, mostly coriander but an oddment of cloves or allspice or pepper; funky threads of hay and straw and other barnyardy characters woven lightly throughout. Even with all that fruit up-front, the beer starts off pretty dry, and it gets even dryer (the word "arid" comes to mind). Grassy and floral bitterness appears in a gradual and graceful transition to an almost impossibly long finish. More funk as it warms, but that remains restrained.
Very light-bodied, extensively (but not excessively) carbonated. Cleansing and refreshing, with practically no hint at all of the 9.5% ABV. Remarkably clean, with just a lingering sensory memory remaining, fading slowly into that long long finish.
Egad, this is a *brilliant* beer. While it's laden with Dupont's house character (mostly the yeast, I presume) it's more than just a souped-up Vielle Provision. Intense as heck and mind-blowingly complex, beautifully integrated and amazingly well balanced; this beer doesn't put a metaphorical foot wrong, anywhere. It's astonishingly drinkable. For me, the best possible beer with which to start a new year.
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| Avec les Bons Vœux de la Brasserie Dupont |
Bright pale fruits—apples, pears, white grapes; possibly stone fruit like peaches; maybe a flicker of something more tropical—backed by bright and earthy spices, mostly coriander but an oddment of cloves or allspice or pepper; funky threads of hay and straw and other barnyardy characters woven lightly throughout. Even with all that fruit up-front, the beer starts off pretty dry, and it gets even dryer (the word "arid" comes to mind). Grassy and floral bitterness appears in a gradual and graceful transition to an almost impossibly long finish. More funk as it warms, but that remains restrained.
Very light-bodied, extensively (but not excessively) carbonated. Cleansing and refreshing, with practically no hint at all of the 9.5% ABV. Remarkably clean, with just a lingering sensory memory remaining, fading slowly into that long long finish.
Egad, this is a *brilliant* beer. While it's laden with Dupont's house character (mostly the yeast, I presume) it's more than just a souped-up Vielle Provision. Intense as heck and mind-blowingly complex, beautifully integrated and amazingly well balanced; this beer doesn't put a metaphorical foot wrong, anywhere. It's astonishingly drinkable. For me, the best possible beer with which to start a new year.
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