This French beauty is a keeper
BY GEOFF GRIGGS
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Beer
Having concentrated on extremely hoppy beers in several recent columns, this week I'd like to redress the balance by featuring one of my all-time favourite malt-accented beers that's perfect for enjoying on chilly, late winter evenings as we look forward to spring. It's brewed in France, comes in a wine bottle and you'll need a corkscrew to open it.
Although France is most famous for its wines, at the country's northern tip, just 80 minutes from London on the Eurostar train via the Channel tunnel, a cluster of artisan French brewers produce one of the world's greatest and least-known beer styles.
In Flanders, between Dunkirk and Lille and continuing inland alongside the Belgian border, a group of 20 or so breweries produce the classic biere de garde style beers. The name, which translates as "beer to keep", refers to a time when beer, like wine, was made by farmers as a provision, a precious food resource to be stored carefully for later consumption. In many cases the breweries were attached to farms, and the beer was made in February and March and kept for summer, when the weather was too hot to brew. The ageing process gives the style its signature cellar character.
After World War I, lager brewing came to the area and bieres de garde gradually lost popularity. By the end of World War II the style had all but disappeared. However, since the 1970s a growing appreciation of food and drink has seen the style revived and it now flourishes.
Recently, an inspired decision by an Auckland importer of French wines and cheeses has seen one of the finest examples of the biere de garde style find its way here.
Brewed at a classic farmhouse brewery in the village of St Sylvestre-Cappel, near Lille, the beer is called 3 Monts. The name is something of a joke Flanders is notoriously flat and the "three mounts" are little more than hillocks but the beer is deadly serious.
3 Monts is presented in a high shouldered 750ml Bordeaux-style wine bottle but, being carbonated, is packaged like a sparkling wine. The cork is secured with a solid metal clip that looks like an oversized staple. This kind of closure was used for Champagne in the days before wire capsules became the norm. Having pried off the clip you'll probably still need a corkscrew to get to the bottle's precious contents. A beer this good doesn't come without a fight!
At 8.5 per cent alcohol and filtered (but not pasteurised), 3 Monts pours a brilliant amber hue beneath a dense, white head. The aroma is an appetising cocktail of bready malt, candy sugar, herbs, green apples and a tantalising hint of "musty" cellar character. Soft and creamy in the mouth there's an initial sweetness followed by a hint of alcohol and tart cellar character, but the beer finishes light and dry, with a hint of acidity and delicate herbal hop notes. Do the beer and yourself a favour by serving it in your best tulip-shaped wine glasses.
One of the most food-friendly beers around, 3 Monts is a match for any wine when paired with herbal and garlicky dishes (especially pesto), and is sensational with roast lamb that's been marinated and studded with garlic and rosemary.
For around $15 you could settle for an average bottle of wine or enjoy one of the world's great beers. I reckon it's a no-brainer.
Cheers!
- The Marlborough Express
