Hey there everyone - this is one I brewed back in November. I can't wait to brew it again to learn from my first timer's mistakes - I have since read Farmhouse Ales and have learned to love the simplicity in farmhouse ales and will be brewing up a historical version at some point this summer (only 3-3.5 abv)
Whoever has brewed or drank a Biere De Garde (I'd be really interested in a recipe ;) ) I'd be interested to hear about some beers you've drank and your key to brewing a good one

BTW, Annapolis Homebrew has excellent variety of hops, ordered Australian Sylva which is very much like Saaz and Styrian Celeia, basically a hybrid of Styrian Golding but with slightly more earthiness and less bitterness

I'm not one for sticking so close to a particular style, but I tried so hard for this one since it doesn't seem to get much love. Toasty, malty farmhouse ale? Sounds good to me. It wants very little hop bitterness, flavor or aroma, so, you'll see some of my off-beat hop additions below. I did lager after fermentation before bottling as suggested

1.078 Final Gravity: 1.019 ABV (standard): 7.8% IBU (tinseth): 26 SRM (morey): 13
Fermentables
Wyeast - Bier de Garde 3725
10.75 lb Belgian - Pilsner - 67.6%
2 lb Belgian - CaraVienne - 12.6% - MISTAKE 1
1 lb Belgian - Unmalted Wheat- 6.3%
0.5 lb Belgian - CaraMunich 3.1% - MISTAKE 1a
0.27 lb Belgian - Special B 1.7%
22.1 oz Turbinado 44 - 8.7%
15.9 lb Total

Hops
0.8 oz Sylva Pellet 5.8 aa 51 min 14.36 ibus
0.2 oz Styrian Celeia 4aa 39 min 2.25 ibus
0.8 oz Styrian Celeia 4aa 29 min 7.82 ibus
0.2 oz Sylva Pellet 5.8aa 12 min 1.57 ibus

Mash Guidelines
Amount
12 qt Rest 1 Temperature 130 F 25 min
10 qt Rest 2 Temperature 140 F 30 min
8 qt 150F 75 min
8 qt Fly Sparge 170F, then Batch Sparge 8 qt

Other Ingredients
Amount Name Type Use Time
22.1 oz Turbinado Other Boil 42 min

Optimum Temp:
70 - 95 °F
Fermentation Temp:
80 °F

Oh yea, this was a 120 minute boil!
3 days at 70F, 4 days at 80F, 4 more weeks at 70F, Lagered 2 weeks at 38F, brought back up to 70, suggest bottling for 2.5 - 3 months before cracking open. It probably hit its peak flavor at 5 months and holding strong to this day

Notice the mistakes? TOO MUCH DAMN CARAMEL. Don't know why I didn't stay with the traditional munich and vienna , and especially in those amounts. 3.5-4% caramel I believe would have given it a nice slight carmelly taste to go with the toastyness - and what I've learned, is that a really long boil should be responsible for these caramel flavors - ah well - next time will just use Belgian De-bittered black to get it to the amber color, or, just do a blonde biere de garde (or even longer boil)

- I really love the "Ambree" style. Instead of just a toasty Saison, mine is a toasty, carmelly saison - not too sweet, but sweeter than I wanted it. I think the alcohol and yeast profile saved me somewhat from the caramel overload - won't make that mistake again - I might only want 1% caramunich and 1% special b next time to just add a "something else" to it on top of the munich and vienna - really want a toastyness with this one

I'd say right now it is a cross between an Irish Red and a Biere De Garde
Aroma - toast, caramel, vinous, sweet spicy-ness
Taste - caramel, munich maltiness, slight toast, slight fruitness - medium body, but dry finish - filling. Tastier, not as sweet as it warms. Medium-high carbonation - not as carbonated as a saison
Appearance - 1 finger head that dissapates to thin film of foam that stays. Hazy at first, semi-clears as it warms - a burnt, dark orange color up top with lighter orange/amber below.