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You are here: Home / Beer / Beer Reviews / “La Vache Folle Double IPA – Palisade” (Double IPA) Microbrasserie Charlevoix.

“La Vache Folle Double IPA – Palisade” (Double IPA) Microbrasserie Charlevoix.

June 28, 2014 by Dale Leave a Comment

Vache Folle DIPA (front)Who doesn’t love a laughing cow? I mean really … what’s to hate?

I’ve had some amazing beers from Microbrasserie Charlevoix including their Milk Stout (reviewed here) which was one of the highlights of 2013.

So when I saw their double IPA (aka “imperial” IPA), I was sold without a whisper. After all, I love my DIPAs (double IPAs) also known as imperial IPAs: they’re big and they’re bold. You read more on them in my of Garrison’s interpretation of the style. But what about Charlevoix? Would they produce a solid entry as well?

Before I tell you the answer, there is one important element to note as you will read on the back label of the beer: “Our Vache Folle Palisade Double India Pale Ale is one more step in our research on mono-varietal hopped beer.” In other words, it’s their quest to do for hops what whisky makers have done for the single-malt. Intriguing, to say the least. What I really liked about the proposition is their guts to experiment, share, and in turn educate. After all, if you’re a beer drinker trying to figure out the different flavour profiles of hop varietals, it’s tough to do when they so consistently appear as a ‘blend’ in the different beers. Hard to nail down, then, the difference between a cascade vs. a palisade hop taste outside of paying a visit to a brewer’s cellar.

How does this single-hop product do? Well, the unfiltered brew pours perfectly, a perfect apricot-jam amber with that gorgeous thick shaving-foam head. Off the nose there is a lot going on, a lot of earthiness overall with the roasted malts prevailing over the grassiness of the hops. Definitely some sour dough in there as well and maybe even a bit of raisin bread (odd, perhaps, but it makes sense if you think about it) … and definitely some alcohol which at 9% is hardly a surprise. Remember that because there is no hiding it.

Vache Folle DIPA (back)So there in lies one of the defining characteristics of this palisade-based DIPA – even with a west-coast hop, this doesn’t remotely smell west-coast. Those tropical, citrusy aromas that are so tell-tale in most American pale ales … isn’t part of the structure of this beer. Indeed, for a DIPA, this doesn’t smell like a DIPA.

In the mouth, well, that’s where the magic happens. The first “first taste” was “bam” and I mean “bam” like someone hiding in the closet and jumping out as you come in the front door: it was not what I was expecting. The alcohol was like a two-by-four piece of lumber across the tongue and the malts, slightly sweet, just reinforced this. However, put a few more tastes in and two-by-four was replaced by an amazing buttery texture (read: excellent diacetyls). On the tongue, well, it’s not very hoppy or IPA-like … but that’s not necessarily bad. What it most certainly is is surprising. I’m ok with surprise, especially when it helps me to grow. But what it requires is a suspension of beliefs, an openness to ‘new’ and a willingness to learn.

I will say, this is a more challenging beer to distill flavours, but there is certainly citrus and lemon rind in the mouth, an almost ‘fragrant’ taste, like you’d associate with a Meyer lemon. Part of the challenge in distilling the elements of the taste is that seemless rush from alcohol to start to butter in the middle … both of which make it hard to pull off flavours. As such, this beer is oddly easy drinking … oddly balanced … oddly hard to remark that it tastes like X. Intriguing stuff, to say the least.

Vache Folle DIPA (cap)And the best part is the best part of any DIPA … that is the bitters that start like the labour of a duck stuck in the water as it tries to take flight: your tongue will be frantically trying to free itself of the the mid-waters of taste before it takes flight into a fully satisfying cleanse of bitters at the end. Some astringency to close, but not enough to detract.

Overall, this is a beer for serious beer drinkers, for people who like beer, who like the elements, and who want to learn and explore. It’s not an everyday beer and, as a limited edition, it’s not going to become one anyway. I strongly recommend to all of you hop heads and aficionados, get a bottle or two and have some fun. I did … like a laughing cow.

Stats:  Double IPA. 9% ABV, Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec.
Colour: Apricot-jam (light copper) amber
(unfiltered)
Mouth Feel: Medium carbonation, incredibly creamy middle with a strong bitter finish.
Purchased: Bières du Monde
Pairing Notes:  n/a

Points: 86

 

 

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Filed Under: Beer Reviews, Double (Imperial) IPA, Eats Tagged With: Baie-Saint Paul, bitter, Charlevoix, charlevoix region, diacetyl, DIPA, double IPA, experiment, food, hop, Imperial IPA, Imperial Stout, IPA, La Vache Folle, learning, malt, Microbrasserie Charlevoix, microbreweries, palisade, Quebec, Review, single hop, stout

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