Short & Shoddy | Bière de Garde

Author: Will Lovell

I had the great fortune to marry an incredible woman who happened to be in the military, which led to us living in Europe for some time. Of all the incredible experiences I hard during my time over there, a particular bright spot was drinking so many beers I simply didn’t have access to in the States, with a shining example being the style, or perhaps more accurately, family of styles known as Bière de Garde.

My introduction to Bière de Garde came through sipping delicious commercial examples from the likes of Ch’Ti and 3 Monts, both of which are classified as “Blonde,” meaning they’re paler in color. Upon returning to the states and taking up the obsession known as homebrewing, I learned there’s more than just one version of this style, which the BJCP describes as follows:

A family of smooth, fairly strong, malty, lagered artisanal French beer with a range of malt flavors appropriate for the blond, amber, or brown color. All are malty yet dry, with clean flavors. Darker versions have more malt character, while paler versions can have more hops while still remaining malt-focused beers.

Considering how much I enjoyed the Bière de Garde I had while living in Europe, I was initially slightly bummed I never came across the ambrée (amber) or brune (brown) variations, which ultimately turned into inspiration. Given the farmhouse quality of Bière de Garde, it seemed a good candidate for Short & Shoddy, so I whipped up a recipe I felt would do it justice.

| BREWING THE BEER |

This Bière de Garde recipe was based in part on others I found online that had decent reviews as well as the ingredients I happened to have on hand.

Short & Shoddy Bière de Garde

I began collecting and heating the full volume of water at 6:14 PM, adjusting it to my desired mineral profile before weighing out and milling the grain.

When the water was properly heated, I stirred in the grist then checked to make sure it was at my target mash temperature.

During the mash rest, I prepared the kettle hop additions.

Once the 30 minute mash rest was complete, I removed the grains and brought the wort to a boil, adding hops at the times listed in the recipe.

At the completion of the 30 minute boil, I quickly chilled the wort then took a refractometer reading showing it was at a respectable 1.067 OG, for a brewhouse efficiency of 56%.

I then transferred the wort to a sanitize Delta Brewing Systems FermTank.

Next, I direct pitched a pouch of Imperial Yeast G03 Dieter into the 70˚F/21˚C wort before connecting it to my glycol chiller set to maintain 66°F/19°C. The time was 8:22 PM for a total brew day time of just 2 hours and 8 minutes.

With fermentation activity absent a week later, I took a hydrometer measurement showing FG had been reached.

I proceeded to cold crash the beer to 34°F/1°C overnight before transferring it to a CO2 purged keg that was placed on gas in my keezer. After a couple weeks of cold conditioning, it was carbonated and ready to serve.

| RESULTS |

A total of 20 people of various levels of experience participated in this Short & Shoddy evaluation. Participants were informed of the specific beer style and provided the BJCP description prior to completing the survey. Tasters were then instructed to rate how hoppy, malty, and dry they perceived the beer to be on a 0-5 scale where a rating of 0 indicated “not at all” and 5 indicated “extremely.”

Tasters were provided a list of common hop, malt, and yeast characteristics then instructed to select from each the one they perceived as being most prominent in the beer.

Hop Characteristics

Malt Characteristics

Yeast Characteristics

Next, participants were asked to indicate whether or not they detected any off-flavors in the beer; those who did were provided a list of common off-flavors and instructed to select the one they perceived as being strongest. Overall, four people felt they perceived the following off-flavors – acetaldehyde (1), diacetyl (3), astringent (1), alcoholic (1), and metallic.

Tasters were then asked to rate how well the beer represented the intended style, based on the provided BJCP description, on a 0-5 scale where 0 meant “not at all” and 5 meant “exactly.”

Finally, tasters were asked to rate how much they enjoyed the beer on a 0-5 scale where 0 indicated not at all and 5 indicated extremely.

My Impressions: While lacking a bit in the fermentation character found in some commercial examples, this Short & Shoddy Bière de Garde was interestingly delicious, presenting with a pleasant balance of malt, hops, and alcohol. Despite being fermented at ale temperature, this beer was clean, crisp, and quite refreshing.

| CONCLUSION |

Inspiration can come from many places, and when it comes to beer, I’ve found travelling to certain regions to be highly inspiring for me, as it’s during these times I’m often introduced to lesser known styles. Such is certainly the case for Bière de Garde, a style associated with northern France that was traditionally lagered for a bit prior to being served. It also comes in three variations based primarily on color – blond, ambrée, and brune.

Given its “farmhouse” status, it comes as no surprise that brewing Bière de Garde isn’t all that difficult, and one could argue there’s plenty of room to play around in doing so. Interestingly, tasters of this Short & Shoddy version made with myriad corner-cutting methods not only seemed to enjoy it, but felt it was a decent representation of the style. While four tasters reported perceiving off-flavors, there was little consensus on what off-flavors they detected, with only three endorsing diacetyl. Moreover, ratings on the various perceptible aspects of this Short & Shoddy Bière de Garde generally seem to align with the BJCP description.

Compared to the blond Bière de Garde I drank while in Europe, this Short & Shoddy ambrée was notably different, though still possessed some of the expected characteristics. Viewed by some as a sort of hybrid lager, I felt a Kölsch yeast was fitting, and while this beer certainly had a clean fermentation character, it still fit the style guidelines in my opinion. Overall, I was happy with how this beer turned out, and judging by the amount my neighbors drank, so too were they. I’m now looking forward to trying my hand at a brune Bière de Garde!

If you have thoughts about this Short & Shoddy brew, please feel free to share it in the comments section below!

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