[chumley]

My wife just back from three weeks in France with some friends, and while over there, she was texting me pictures of beers she loved. A lot of them were biere de gardes, that I never see in the US. For example, Ch'ti Blonde, brewered by Brasserie Castelain (around since 1926), 6.8% abv. Not surprising she loved them, she dislikes hoppy beers but usually prefers stouts and the like.

I brewed what I called a biere de garde last probably 20 years ago. Obviously I wasn't super excited with the results since it moved out of my rotation. I think back then I brewed one more for the corked flavor controversy  that was ongoing in the Homebrew Digest (that dates me).

So the call is out...anyone familiar with French beers and have a killer recipe? I have some thoughts in mind but as always would welcome additional input. My thoughts are a malt heavy beer (pilsner, munich, vienna), maybe a touch of biscuit or not, and for hops Northern Brewer, Lubinski, Tettnanger, Styrian Goldings, Spalt and Hallertauer Mittelfruh are the hops I have in stock at the present time that I think would be good in a biere de garde. I also have a Bohemian pilsner in primaries due to be rack this weekend that would provide a nice Diamond lager yeast slurry for a ~7% biere de garde.

[denny]

I brewed one years ago. In my research I learned it was an invented (as opposed to traditional) beer. It appears it can be about anything you want it to be.

[chumley]

Yeah, I'm not seeing much of anything that suggests that it is any different than a strong malty lager. Leave it to the French to make up a beer style. Although it still is better than sludgy IPA.

[denny]

Yeah, I'm not seeing much of anything that suggests that it is any different than a strong malty lager. Leave it to the French to make up a beer style. Although it still is better than sludgy IPA.

Doesn't even have to be a lager, or malty. Look at Jenlain, one of the most widely available.  And remember, Irish Red ale came from the French in pretty much the same way as BdG

[pete b]

The farm brewery in my town, Stone Cow, makes a biere de garde that I like that is a brown ale, which goes to show that the name means nothing . Well, not nothing, it means "beer for keeping" and I guess can be any farmhouse style ale brewed to a stronger abv for storage. This is the first suggestion I have ever heard of it being a lager.
Stone Cow recently found it sells faster labeled "French Brown Ale".

[denny]

The farm brewery in my town, Stone Cow, makes a biere de garde that I like that is a brown ale, which goes to show that the name means nothing . Well, not nothing, it means "beer for keeping" and I guess can be any farmhouse style ale brewed to a stronger abv for storage. This is the first suggestion I have ever heard of it being a lager.
Stone Cow recently found it sells faster labeled "French Brown Ale".

Not necessarily farmhouse style. Most of the true ones aren't.  We think of it as having some funk due to handling and poor storage.

[pete b]

The farm brewery in my town, Stone Cow, makes a biere de garde that I like that is a brown ale, which goes to show that the name means nothing . Well, not nothing, it means "beer for keeping" and I guess can be any farmhouse style ale brewed to a stronger abv for storage. This is the first suggestion I have ever heard of it being a lager.
Stone Cow recently found it sells faster labeled "French Brown Ale".

Not necessarily farmhouse style. Most of the true ones aren't.  We think of it as having some funk due to handling and poor storage.

My knowledge of that is probably limited to “read it somewhere once”. That being said I see it as a rustic beer and I don’t think all farmhouse beerse funky.

[denny]

The farm brewery in my town, Stone Cow, makes a biere de garde that I like that is a brown ale, which goes to show that the name means nothing . Well, not nothing, it means "beer for keeping" and I guess can be any farmhouse style ale brewed to a stronger abv for storage. This is the first suggestion I have ever heard of it being a lager.
Stone Cow recently found it sells faster labeled "French Brown Ale".

Not necessarily farmhouse style. Most of the true ones aren't.  We think of it as having some funk due to handling and poor storage.

My knowledge of that is probably limited to “read it somewhere once”. That being said I see it as a rustic beer and I don’t think all farmhouse beerse funky.

Agreed not all farmhouse beers are funky.

[reverseapachemaster]

Biere de garde is a generic term for a strong beer intended to be aged. It's the French equivalent to barleywine, old ale, adambier, etc. that pretty much every brewing culture had. It wasn't until later on as people decided beers needed to be aggressively categorized that it became a style rather than a description of a group of beers. That's why there are biere de gardes of all sorts of color and yeast selection.

Recipes can be as simple as 100% pale or pils or convoluted with several specialty malts. 1.065-75, 20 IBUs.

The whole cork taint thing was something somebody just said and it took off without any proof whatsoever. The supposed cork taint is just a low level infection common in breweries that didn't have great sanitation and didn't brew aggressively hopped beers. Fantome expressed that character until the new assistant brewer went through and cleaned the brewery out and unloading more hops into the beers. You don't need contamination for a biere de garde but if you want that flavor, leave some slightly hopped (~5 IBU) wort out on your porch overnight, give it a couple days to grow, pitch it and then pitch your normal yeast a couple days later. Reuse the slurry a few times and you'll have a consistent house biere de garde culture.

[chumley]

So I am brewing my Biere de Garde right now:

10 gallons. OG 1.076

18.25 lbs. Gallatin Valley Pilsner malt
6 lbs. Weyermann Munich malt
2.75 lbs. Franco-Belges Vienna malt
1 lb. Dingeman biscuit malt

Mash at 140°F for 60 min. Add boiling water to raise mash to 154°F for another 60 min.

2.3 oz. Northern Brewer boil
2 oz. Lubelski 10 min

Diamond lager yeast cakes for fermenting at 48-52°.

I collected 14 gallons of wort, planning to boil down to 11. Aiming for an OG of 1.075, if I undershoot I will add a little sugar at the end of the boil. Planning to let this one lager until late fall.

UPDATE: Hit OG of 1.076 with 12 gallons left in the kettle after a 3.5 hour boil. No sugar needed.

[denny]

Good on ya!

[Jefferson Coastal]

How did it turn out?

[chumley]

Very good. A little on the malty sweet side for my tastes, but tasty. I think one could call it a Helles bock or Mai-bock and no one would know the difference.

One keg gone, going to let the second keg age in the keezer until winter.