French Holiday Beer

The style name is Bière de Garde, but when a stronger version of this style is brewed in the winter, it is often called Bière de Noël .

I'm calling this one Bière de Vacances, which is mangled French for "Holiday Beer" -- a regular strength BdG that should be ready to drink in December.

The wort is currently bubbling away in the fermeter. With the help of my co-brewer, ChuckleCharles and a little luck, we will wrangle this beast into about 600 ounces of tasty goodness.

The second of a two step starter (Wyeast 3725-PC Biere De Garde):

It is in the carboy and sitting on a Disney movie beach towel (Hunchback of Notre Dame, très approprié, non?):

The recipe is on BeerTools.com. All of the malts came from the Franco-Belges Maltser and the second hop addition is French Strisselspalt, which has a very unusual aroma that we couldn't put our finger on until ChuckleCharles nailed it: Cantaloupe.

Tale of the tape: