Girardin Dominicus - Brouwerij Girardin

Not Rated.
Girardin DominicusGirardin Dominicus

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no score

9 Ratings
no score

(send 'em beer!)
Ratings: 9
Reviews: 6
rAvg: 3.63
pDev: n/a
Wants: 1
Gots: 0 | FT: 0
Brewed by:
Brouwerij Girardin

Style | ABV
Faro |  5.00% ABV

Availability: Year-round

Notes/Commercial Description:
No notes at this time.

View: Beers (13) | Events
Beer: Ratings & Reviews
Ratings: 9 | Reviews: 6 | Display Reviews Only:
Reviews by the Alström Bros:

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More User Reviews:
Photo of ricke
3.1/5  rDev n/a

A: Slighly hazy yellowish orange color with small red hues. A rather big off-white head that actually stays around for quite a while (not very common when it comes to lambics) and leaves nice lacings.

S: The smell is refreshing and pleasant with quite a lot of sweet fruit aromas (tangerines and peaches) that reside on and suppress some rustic aromas of hay, yeast and malts. Hints of fudge and caramel. The classic lambic character in this one is light and mellow, but it's noticeable.

T: The taste is mild and easy-going. The malty backbone is quite prominent with plenty of flavors of fudge and caramel. Some semi-sweet fruit aromas. Hints of grass, yeast and hay, and perhaps a minimal note of oak barrel. The finish has a mild lemony tartness to it and this helps to balance the otherwise rather sweet taste. The finish is short and one-sided with a light maltiness and some fruit.

M: Moderate body. Slightly stickier than expected and the finish lacks the dryness of most lambics.

D: I'm not sure about this one. It's tasty and easy to drink, but it's a bit restrained and uninteresting. It's a bit on the sweet side and has quite an unusual composition of flavors (lots of malts and caramel) considering that it's a lambic. I would have liked more character and en edgier profile with less sweetness.

Photo of GRG1313
3.5/5  rDev n/a

Photo of ManforallSaisons
3.24/5  rDev n/a

This could be an intriguing blend but I fear that I over-aged it, with a few years in the cellar. (Cork says REF BX 2010 but that might not be a date because I've had the bottle at least that long and I suspect longer.) Started with an attractive pour of a smokey amber color, translucent but not clear, with a surprising layer of fine cream head, and little sediment. Just a bit of basement wood-working shop in the nose, with caramel, toast, coffee. Flavor is of caramel of course but with bitterness close behind, and a lick of sourness somewhere in the chorus. Some apple and some of the pie spices to go with. Not that much of any of them, though, surely flattened by age. Still feels like a good cleansing drink, a bit thin, a bit of oil, but a pleasant feel. I hope it's not too much of a disservice to taste and old bottle, like dragging the model out of bed without hairdo and makeup, but there's character and uniqueness here, but I need a better example to judge on the execution.

Photo of DefenCorps
3.98/5  rDev n/a

The cork says REF BX2011. I don't know what that means. This really is a beer I probably shouldn't have bought (especially from overseas), but I'm a sucker for Girardin, and a blend of sucralose-sweetened faro and pils sounded intriguing.

With an energetic pop, the cork comes off and in my Schlenkerla tulip, this beer sits a deep amber with a dense, white head with excellent retention and nice lacing. The nose is intriguing. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first - a clear, but mild artificial sweetener character is noticeable, and the lambic isn't particularly funky. However, there _is_ a delicacy and complexity to the nose. The pilsner adds a rather straw-like malt character and a little bit of lemon zest hoppiness. This is complemented, quite well, in fact, by the straw and barnyard aromas of the base lambic. A touch of cheese as well. Rousing the yeast does seem to add a mild goat-like aroma (yum) and increases the red apple aroma.

The palate opens with a lemony tartness, clean and quite citrusy, with the sucralose following through adding a mild sweetness. Unfortunately, there is a touch of a metallic flavor that I get from sucralose. Due to its relatively low level in the mix, though, I do get used to it. This then allows the grassy, hay-like flavors to come through. I also do get some apple cider-like flavors. Maybe it's the power of suggestion, but I *do* taste the distinct pilsner contribution here. Oak presence is minimal. Drying on the finish, with a blend of light, sucralose sweetness, grass, hay and a touch of lemony tartness. Medium-light in body with moderate carbonation. The mid-palate is a little watery, but apart from that, this beer is quite nice. Refreshing stuff.

This beer is delicate and flavorful. As this is a particularly hard style for me to drink, let alone enjoy, I am particularly impressed. It does pair rather beautifully with a gruyere I have on hand, and I imagine it would work with other more delicate cheeses. A 750ml bottle is not going to be a problem, and I would drink it again.

Photo of Gueuzedude
3.7/5  rDev n/a

2010 on the cork; sampled July 2010
A soft pour produces a two-finger thick, lightly tan tinged head. The beer is a dark, burnt amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, brown honey color when held up to the light. The aroma smells like caramelized fruit, a mix of pear and apple really, as well as a touch of sweet-tea notes, some anchoring tartness as well as some dark grain cracker like notes in the finish if you really dig around for a while. A touch of urea ties in the Lambic origin as do some faint musty and even mushroom like earthy notes. It almost seems to have a sugary smokiness to it at times, though this is quite fleeting.

Because fairly warm the beer is not overwhelmingly sweet; it does have a sweetness though, and one that lingers in the finish with a fruity, caramelized candi sugar note. Lightly tart up front and it has a zippy carbonation that makes it a bit carbonic, all of these help to balance the candi-sugar flavors. Fruity flavors of candied pears, perhaps a touch of sweetened lemon (more like crystal light than actual lemons though) and perhaps a tart berry like flavor are all accentuated by the sweetness.

Not a bad Faro, it could use some more funkiness, as it is completely devoid of this character in the flavor. The sweetness is not too overwhelming here and I could almost see myself drinking this again, though it doesn't hold a candle to the 3 Fonteinen Faro.

Photo of JAHMUR
3.75/5  rDev n/a

Photo of woosterbill
4.08/5  rDev n/a

750ml bottle into an Old Engine Oil snifter. Thanks to whoever opened this at the tasting - it's always exciting to walk in the door and be met with a Lambic I never knew existed, even if that Lambic is a Faro blended with a Pils.

A: Clear amber body with a thin, wispy off-white head. Spotty lace.

S: Funky + tart up front, with major barnyard; sweet malt and some earthy hops behind. Really nice.

T: Apple tartness, caramel malt, barnyard funk, more cider, and a bittersweet, lightly hoppy finish. Good, not quite great.

M: Light, frothy, creamy. Good.

O: Being a Geuze lover, I obviously wish this had played up its sour and funky elements more than it did, but I really enjoyed the sweet-tart combination. There's something about having a liquid caramel apple that's hard to dislike, and a good Faro is better than a bad Geuze.


Photo of falloutsnow
3.83/5  rDev n/a

Bottle from Etre Gourmet
Bottled in 08.2011
Poured into a Drie Fonteinen '3' glass

Dominicus is supposedly the blend of a pilsener with faro from Girardin. I wouldn't have guessed pilsener in the blend unless it was mentioned, but it is a believable combination. The beer has a pleasant aroma and taste, and is definitely drinkable many times over with its low ethanol content and downplayed lambic components. Would I pick up another if seen in a local store? Definitely. Would I import another from Belgium? Probably not.

Able to pour a tall (>3cm) head of silky, off-white bubbles of moderate size. Gradually fades to a fine film of bubbles atop the beer with some thicker residuum around the perimeter of the glass. Leaves some generous splotches and lines of lacing around the glass. Body is a transparent, mineral-like, light orange-brown when out of the light, deep orange with yellow highlights when in. Modest carbonation readily visible. Overall, an outstanding looking lambic product.

Aroma is tart, sweet, malty, and lightly hoppy, as if someone blended lemon juice, oolong tea, toasted and light caramel malts, and generically noble hops together and let the tartness of the lemon barely win out over the other three components. Slight pepper, dirt, and oak/musty notes become more noticeable as the beer warms.

Taste is much lighter and brighter than, say, the Lindeman's Faro. The obviousness of the pilsener blend here is noticeable, mostly because of the discernible noble hop character and light malt flavor. Opens with some table sugar sweetness tied to a mild tea flavor. Transitions to bright malt sweetness with mild tartness and noble hop presence. Mid-palate continues these flavors: tartness with malt and light candi sugar character with hop qualities that combine with the tartness to produce a nearly old-grapefruit like quality.
Aftertaste falls a bit flat, there's a fairly sudden reduction in flavor to just a mild tartness in the back of the mouth. Generally, an interesting "light faro."

Beer is medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. Resultant mouthfeel is generally smooth and mildly crisp on the palate, very organized in procession.

Photo of tom10101
3.5/5  rDev n/a

Girardin Dominicus from Brouwerij Girardin
- out of 100 based on 9 ratings.