Dave's BrewFarm En Garde Biere de Garde

The changing of the guard is happening now at Dave's BrewFarm, still DBA as DBF until year's end, says Farmer D. A young, fresh face is training under Dave to take over the brewing when the changeover takes place. This is his first beer, a 5.6% Biere de Garde called En Garde. Let's drink it.

A deep reddish hue, off-white head, slim, but staying.

Malt-forward nose, rich and slightly fruity. Nice balance, minor hops.

In the mouth, it's a sweet one, but not overly so. Clean and even, fine drinkability. Little bit of earthiness and herbalaceousness. Smooth. Tasty stuff. Caramel-ly, toffee-ish, brown suar-like.

Not a bad first effort. Good beer, and you can drink it. A little too on the sweet side, though, but there's time and room for improvement.

Here's what Farmer Dave says: "Ben's first creation! He combined Pale, Caramel 120 and Rye malts, Columbus and Crystal hops and fermented with a Biere de Garde yeast. You don't need to be "on your guard" with this tasty beer!