Biere de Mars - New Belgium Brewing

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Biere de Mars

- Lips of Faith

STORY

Again in 2012, we are pleased to offer one of our favorite harbingers of spring, Biere de Mars.

With earthy tones of ripe mango and lemon verbena, this bottle-conditioned ale reflects the hearty character of the southern Belgian and northern French countrysides. Brewed with barley, oats and wheat malt, Biere de Mars' celestial orange hue inspired the planetary play on words.

Brettanomyces, a wild yeast strain, added for bottle-conditioning creates a refreshingly sour flash across the palate. Lemon peel coupled with the lemon verbena imparts fruitlike character and a citrusy finish.

BEER FACTS

Birthdate: December, 2000

Body: Medium - Full

ABV: 6.2%

IBU: 22

Calories: 195

Hops: Target, Willamette, Cascade

Malts: Pale, C-80, Oats, Wheat, Carapils

Yeast: House Ale Yeast

Fruits/Spice: Lemon Peel, Lemon Verbena

Aroma: Sweet earthy pineapple, lemony citrus and gentle hop character. Sweet citrus with notes of phenolic clove.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, full mouthfeel with a pleasant tart finish

Flavor: Notoriously difficult to describe! Sweet/tart citrus, honey and caramel maltiness subtle hop bitterness and slightly fruity across the palate

Visual: Very hazy, celestial orange glow, great foam

Food Pairings

Morbier Molly Gunn and Nick Rutherford, The Porter Beer Bar, Atlanta, Georgia print recipe Morbier Morbier traditionally is a cow milk cheese with the bottom half using the morning milking from the cow, and the top with the evening's milk with a layer of ash in the middle, a wonderfully complex cheese, balances the complexity of the fruit and funk of the Bier de Mars.
Pecan Smoked Trout and Wild Mushroom Strudel Chef Todd Davies, Partner of Tap House Grill, recommends: print recipe Pecan Smoked Trout and Wild Mushroom Strudel Pecan smoked trout and wild mushroom strudel with a tangle of micro green, citrus vinaigrette and chive oil. I paired this trout dish with the Biere de Mars because the earthy taste of the mushrooms along with the smokiness & slight slatiness of the trout made for a very nice contrast of the citrus tones of the beer along with the citrus vinaigrette which tied it all together.
A double cheese experience! Don Pieratt, Cheese Monger at Chez Cheese Gourmet Market in Larimer Square, Denver, Colorado, recommends: print recipe A double cheese experience! Our first cheese is one of a few Italian washed rind cheeses. Taleggio is made from cow's milk - a soft, rich, buttery and beefy cheese with nuances of fruit and nuts. The next cheese is a soft ripened goat cheese from Spain called Cana de Cabra. Aged only 21 days, it has a creamy and mild flavor that intensifies over time. Both of these soft cheeses pair well with Biere de Mars' fruity tones and crisp dry finish and would be great any season.
General Food Musings... Jessica Morton, our Sensory Technician, recommends: print recipe General Food Musings... Biere de Mars is inoculated with our house Brettanomyces WILD yeast, which gives it a rustic flavor and a pleasantly dry finish. This, coupled with a refreshing citrus zing from the lemon peel, lemon verbena and a full body from the barley-oat-wheat malt trilogy, makes for a satisfying palate cleansing beer. One of my all-time favorite Biere de Mars pairings was a soft sheep's milk cheese flavored with sundried tomatoes and chipotle chilies. The lemony flavors in the beer were a fantastic foil for the subtle heat of the chilies, and the Bretta character complemented the smoky-earthy notes in the dried tomatoes and chilies. Biere de Mars' dry finish did an excellent job of cleansing the palate from the creaminess of the cheese, and the slight sweetness of the malt mellowed out the tangy-saltiness of the sheep's milk. I love to cook with this beer too...when making a wild and brown rice pilaf, I substitute Biere de Mars for 1/3 of the cooking water, and then stir roasted veggies into the finished rice. This beer is also great for deglazing the cooking pan after sautÃ©ing brats on the stove...instant sauce for your spaetzel. And what could be better than noshing on some awesome soft pretzels with spicy-sweet mustard, a cold Biere de Mars chillin' in your hand? I recommend trying this beer with seafood too; buttery King crab legs or remoulade-topped crab cakes come to mind. As long as you keep it farm fresh and simple, Biere de Mars just might be the food-friendliest beer on the planet!