Bellerose Bière Blonde Extra

Brasserie des Sources 

St.-Amand-les-Eaux, France

Imported by Iron Horse Beverage; Melville, NY

The brewery was started thanks to a group of actors from the movie “Germinal,” which was filmed in northern France.

ABV: 6.5

ABW: 5.17

COLOR: 5.15

BITTERNESS: 33

ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1064

AVAILABLE: Australia, AZ, CA, China, CO, Denmark, DC, FL, IA, IL, IN, Ireland, Italy, LA, MA, MD, NC, NY, PA, SC, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, TN, UK, WA

A beer from a brewery founded by French movie star Gérard Depardieu is bound to have an impressive nose. The brewers say the beer is a cross between an English IPA and a bière de garde, but it’s rather more of the latter. It’s brewed with pale malt and three unnamed hops with a rich perfumed malt nose with hints of nougat and honey and citrus notes from the hops. The palate is quenching, with honeyed malt, tart fruit and peppery hops, followed by a creamy and honey malt finish with a late burst of peppery hops.
- Roger Protz

For a delicate-looking golden ale, there’s a lot going on in Bellerose. It starts with a spicy, peppery aroma that is slightly bready and perfumed, with a twist of lemon. On the palate, the texture is light and airy for the ABV, but with warming alcohol underlining the strength. Taste buds detect bright, mostly sweet flavors with perfumed, peppery spice plus traces of lemon and exotic fruits, before a perfumed, dry, peppery, warming finish that grows increasingly bitter. A fresh, clean and interesting beer—a cross, I’d say, between a Belgian blonde and a saison.
- Jeff Evans

Roger Protz
Author of 300 Beers to Try Before You Die and 300 More Beers to Try Before You Die. Respected beer authority and editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and www.protzonbeer.co.uk.

Jeff Evans
Jeff Evans is author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide, The Book of Beer Knowledge and Beer Lover’s Britain. More of his writing can be found at www.insidebeer.com.