Three strikes you’re out.
… having said that, with the advent of another World Series playoffs, baseball apparently has more surprises and dark horses than Les Brasseurs du Monde. It is a brewery that continues to disappoint … and fail consistently with the same flaws. My second beer review, L’Interdite focused on the excessive carbonation of the brew; my review of their rye bitter, Seiglerie, suffered an identical fate. My third sampling of this brewery many months removed, illicited the same comment from the moment I poured it to the moment I tasted it. So pronounced was it that I went back to my other two reviews to confirm that carbonation had been a problem there too … and bingo, my beer journal put the batter down with a third strike, right down the gullet.
The picture doesn’t lie. Look at 90% of the beers I’ve poured this year, and none of them produce head like this, no matter how hard I pour. In this case, I was as careful as I could be and I still produced a shaving-cream head; and with disregard for the fact that this beer is brewed sur lies, the bubbles still scream “artificial” based on how fast it again falls leaving a very uneven lacing all over the glass.
It’s disappointing because I had very high hopes for this bottle when I saw the hopped-up grenade on the bottle … and my hopes remained even when I popped the cap and smelled those beautiful west coast hops exhale. Pour it, though, and it is a muddy and unattractive gold (though the second pour from this 500mL bottle is more orange than gold) … and then those damn bubbles take over.
The brewer gets a point for consistency – even if it is for stubbornly and foolishly thinking that a good beer needs tons of carbonation. What the brew master needs to be told and convinced is that any good work being done beneath the bubbles is lost or at least heavily buried. You have to struggle to find the gorgeous, almost Mediterranean, essence of pine that dominates the flavour profile. There is good fresh lemon in the flavour structure as well which makes me think this is a perfect pairing for pork souvlaki.
The beer fails, however, as brilliantly in the mid-taste as it does in the carbonation and it comes off as watery and light … which doesn’t lie it’s relative anemic 5.2% ABV. But as poorly as the beer performs through the middle, it excels at the end with a ton of bitterness. If you’re a hop head, you’ll like the ending but I personally don’t think there is enough else going on in this beer to recommend it. And, sadly, with that, not only cannot I not recommend this beer but I can’t recommend this brewery at all. With the plethora of choices available to beer drinkers today, I strongly recommend you reach around and buy almost anything else.
Stats: American Pale Ale. 5.2% ABV. Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec.
Colour: Muddy gold to muddy orange (depending on what half of the bottle you pour); sur lies.
Mouth Feel: Strong carbonation; refreshing and bitter finish.
Purchased: Quebec (e.g. BroueHaHa)
Pairings: Pork Souvlaki.
70 Points
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