Abita Select 18th Star Bière De Garde - Abita Brewing Co.

TheManiacalOne

Rhode Island

4.03/5  rDev +10.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

On-tap 12/16/2012 at Doherty’s East Ave Irish Pub in Pawtucket, RI, served in a tulip glass.

A: The beer is a cloudy yellow color, with a large white head that fades slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains citrus, bananas and light Belgian yeast

T: The taste starts out with bready flavors of Belgian yeast and a light malt character. Then some mildly sweet flavors of citrus and bananas come in. The hops presence is extremely mild as you would expect but it brings some balance. The after-taste is slightly bready and slightly sweet.

M: Crisp and smooth, light-to-medium body, medium carbonation, finish is clean.

O: Tasty, goes down very easily, not too filling, good kick, decent representation of style, this is a solid beer to drink for a while if you’re in the mood for the style.

Serving type: on-tap

12-20-2012 01:49:15 | More by TheManiacalOne

MrHassellYaHurd

Louisiana

3.6/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Had at the Abita brewpub.

Poured into a pint glass a pale straw, completely hazed with a thin white head.

The brew has aromas of tart green apples and sweet malt. There is also a faint cider aroma.

Earthy, tart, and sweet; this brew is hitting all te right notes for a bière de garde.

The texture is prickly with carbonation bubbles, medium-bodied. Overall I'd give it a 3.5.

Serving type: on-tap

07-21-2012 20:55:23 | More by MrHassellYaHurd

Jadjunk

Georgia

3.75/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Served on tap at Summit's Wayside Tavern Snellville June 19, 2012. Reviewed from notes.

(Appearance) Color is a pale gold yellow with a creamy white head. Medium haziness, decent head retention. Plenty of substance. Overall nice appearance. 4

(Smell) Aroma presents a tart yeasty fruitiness atop a clean pale malt. Very light clean hop presence. Slightly acidic, somewhat sour, the aroma is approachable but curious with dimension. I enjoy it. 3.5

(Taste) Mild dry sour lemon zest malt front follows through with a crisp mild musty bubble gun finish. This is certainly not unlike the last Biere De Garde I had, although I enjoy the mildness of the flavors. My two criticisms are the slightly too dry profile and a slight shallowness on flavor, neither criticism making a huge impact on how this beer is received. 4

(Mouthfeel) Dry, tart with a spritz of carbonation on the tongue. Alcohol presence is light, body is light. Overall a good pairing, although a touch too dry. 3.5

(Overall) A nice take on the style, goes quite dry and has a light body, but makes itself highly drinkable and the flavors gel together quite nicely. It's a nice beer by Abita and I'd be happy to have another of these. 3.5

Abita Brewing Company's
Abita Select 18th Star Bière De Garde
3.75/5.00

Serving type: on-tap

07-14-2012 19:56:48 | More by Jadjunk

acevenom

Louisiana

3.6/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I sampled this at the Abita Brewery prior to the tour.

The appearance of the beer is hazy golden with a white head that has good retention. The beer has aromas of malt as well as fruit (apples or pears). This beer had a mild sweet malty flavor with some of that mild fruit taste I picked up in the nose. There are some hops, but that flavor was mild and mostly in the finish. The body is medium with prickly carbonation. It is smooth and the finish is dry. This is a very good beer.

Serving type: on-tap

06-23-2012 19:27:07 | More by acevenom

EgadBananas

Louisiana

2.58/5  rDev -29.5%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a hazy yellow color, and I initially thought that I'd be given a wheat beer of some sort. While more of a golden color is technically acceptable, I really haven't had such a lightly colored Garde Bière. The aroma had quite the array of spice notes...too much. There was some fruity esters and some Belgian-y yeast notes. The taste was sweet, nearing cloying, spicy, very fruity and with the spice note array again. The feel was smooth, light to medium, creamy, slick.

Didn't care for this. To me, this deviates from the style a bit, which is fine, but the deviation doesn't work IMO

Serving type: on-tap

06-21-2012 03:17:24 | More by EgadBananas