Saison - Saint Feuillien (Belgium) 6.5%

Saison - Saint Feuillien (Belgium) 6.5%

Yeah, so this beer gave forth a eruption of foam that ... it made a mess so be warned. This may be because I bought it and let it sit in my "cellar" for a few weeks but I wouldn't think it'd make too much of a difference in the carbonation. It pours an increasingly cloudy gold (as you get to the sediment on the bottom of the bottle) with a frothy soda-lika head of white foam. A really nice clover, nectar, honey, herbal and apricot aroma; quite sweet.

Sweet flavour and its flavour is on the sweet side but it has a balancing bitterness. Herbal for sure, touches of mint as well as clover, honey and apple blossoms. The yeast is responsible for the most pronounced of these flavours but it is working really nicely with the toasty flavours of malt and the subtly crisp hops finish. This is a very solid Belgian Farmhouse Ale or Saison.

Boréale 25 - Les Brasseurs du Nord (Canada - Quebec - Blainville)

Boréale 25 - Les Brasseurs du Nord (Canada - Quebec - Blainville) 6.1%


A cloudy, light orange colour in a glass. A cedar and floral aroma, a little resiny maybe a little apricot as well and overall very attractive.

The taste is bitter with cedar and resin but also maybe a touch of alcohol. Orange tones, some sweetness and floral touches with an aftertaste of wheat though the body is a bit thin. I would not have expected a hoppy White IPA but this is a tasty and interesting choice for an anniversary beer from Boréale.

Chaudiere - Mill St (Canada - Ontario - Toronto)

Chaudiere - Mill St (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 7.0%


A cloudy gold orange in a glass. Aroma of herbs, alcohol, nutmeg, strongly banana, yeast, apricot and blossoms. The taste was of sweet banana, yeast, alcohol, herbs with a bit of a bitter finish. Interesting beer and a cool style. Reminiscent of much a lighter Fin Du Monde.

Tried this one at the brewery in Toronto, it is a lovely spot in an interesting neighbourhood. Definitely worth checking out.

Summer Weizen - Okanagan Spring (Canada - British Columbia - Vernon) 5.0%

Summer Weizen - Okanagan Spring (Canada - British Columbia - Vernon) 5.0%

The aroma is a blast of apricot, peach and passionfruit with some hints of citrus. Okanagan Spring's Summer Weizen pours a lovely and cloudy apricot colour with a moderate head.

The taste is also potently apricot, mostly dominating the complimentary wheat flavours. You can certainly still taste the wheat: it gives the beer an appetizing creaminess. Also, the apricot and other fruit flavours (I feel like the passionfruit comes through well in the taste) are so pleasant and tasty that as long as you tend to like a fruit flavoured wheat ale, and know what to expect from this one, you are sure to like Summer Weizen.

As always, Okanagan Spring has an interesting and informative label which I appreciate. I also like the fact that use apricots (presumably) grown in the Okanagan Valley region.

Gouden Carolus Tripel - Brouwerij Het Anker (Belgium) 9.0%

Gouden Carolus Tripel - Brouwerij Het Anker (Belgium) 9.0%

Very fruity bouquet. Frothy tasting with a lovely apricot taste and an alcohol burn. Mead like but pleasantly balanced. This Belgian Tripel is a great choice to try out how many Belgian brewers brew a beer without any fruit ingredients but that ends up tasting very fruity.

Suiyoubi No Neko - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 4.5%

Suiyoubi No Neko - Yo-Ho Brewing (Japan - Nagano) 4.5%

Gold in a glass, absolutely clear - not cloudy at all. The aroma is of nectar and malty sweetness. From the aroma and appearance it is fair to say Suiyoubi No Neko is more like a Belgian Blonde Ale than a Beglian White so far.

The taste is sweet and nectary like a Belgian Blonde but with coriander touches and a slightly creamy mouthfeel like a Wheat. While the style may be a bit of a mash-up the flavour is wonderful: sweet and floral with touches of apricot along with the nectar and coriander. It is also well balanced and refreshing. Suiyoubi No Neko really does seem to me like a cross between a Belgian Blonde Ale and a Belgian White but that is a pretty delightful combination and, as a result, this beer is thoroughly delicious. Also the can is incredibly cute.

Affligem Blonde (Belgium) 6.8%

Affligem Blonde (Belgium) 6.8%

This Abbey ale is deep gold in a glass and well carbonated. It has an floral aroma of apricots. The aroma is also distinctly alcoholic reflecting its strength at 6.8% ABV.

The taste is along much the same lines: sweet at first, floral, tastes of fruits like apricots and mildly banana, spicy like coriander; then bitter and obviously high in alcohol with a gingery aftertaste. It is right in the middle of the pack as far as abbey beers for alcohol content (or even towards the low end) but because its flavour is relatively mild the alcohol comes through quite clearly.

The flavour of Affligem Blonde is pronounced and interesting when compared to your average beer (and in truth profoundly delightful for those of us who have fallen for Belgian Abbey beers), but it is not nearly as strong as some other Abbey ales, especially compared to, say, Trappist ales. This makes it an excellent ale to use to introduce someone to the style: after having tried and enjoyed Affligem Blonde, some of the more "exotic" tasting (and thoroughly wonderful) Belgian beers will be much more approachable.

Affligem makes several other types of beer, a Dubbel, a Tripel and a Belgian ale, which I suspect will be much more like the explosion of flavour expected of a Belgian Abbey beer and I look forward to tracking them down.

A note on the serving: this beer, like any Trappist ale or Abbey beer (or really anything at all with a pronounced floral nose and spicy taste), should be served in a goblet style glass or, failing Belgian Abbey Ale dedicated glassware, a wine glass would do nicely to capture the aroma and bring out some of the best flavours.

Trois Pistoles - Unibroue (Canada - Quebec - Chambly)

Trois Pistoles - Unibroue (Canada - Quebec - Chambly) 9.0%

Super frothy and a very dark brown colour in a glass. A lovely sweet apricot, herbal, spicy, floral and faintly yeasty aroma. Reminds me of Esrum Kloster. After the froth subsided the aroma was more dark fruit, plums, but still spiced and sweet with a herbal (faintly minty) aroma. Also something that reminds me of ginger bread cookies without being heavy on the ginger - probably a mix of the yeast-born spice and the molasses-esque tones of the dark malty. Some herbal taste but followed quickly by dark malt taste, a boatload of sweetness and a nearly masked alcohol taste that occasionally jumps out and bites at your toungue. I thought my bottle of Trois Pistoles (which has a spectacularly cool label) was already warm enough (out of a warmish fridge for more than fifteen minutes) but as it warmed further it became more balanced and more similar to a tasty, strong brown ale.

St Ambroise Vintage Ale 2011 - McAuslan Brewing (Canada - Quebec - Montreal)

St Ambroise Vintage Ale 2011 - McAuslan Brewing (Canada - Quebec - Montreal) 10.0%

An ever so slightly cloudy red-tinted amber colour in a glass with a think and creamy head with great lacing. Lots of plum, fresh baked bread, molasses, nutmeg, some wood tones and a hint of white chocolate in a delectable aroma.

The alcohol comes through clearly from the moment it touches your lips by the way it makes them tingle as well as the taste. But it's a barley wine afterall so what else could you expect? Sweet, herbal, a touch of something like cinnamon and a bit of a honey flavour. A lot of dark fruit like the plum that I found to be prominent in the nose as well as cherry, and dried fruit tones like apricot. Lightly yeasty and quite bitter. The hops, which are largely pushed aside by the other more powerful flavour, and the alcohol combine to lend St Ambroise Vintage Ale some wood tones. A lot of the different aspects of the flavour are similar to the taste of fruitcake particularly fruitcake made with rum.

This beer will improve with time and can be aged for years. It is a good idea to let it warm to the suggested serving temperature of 12 and 15 Celsius.

Leffe Brune (Belgium)

Leffe Brune (Belgium) 6.5%

Very dark brown in a glass. A floral, roasty aroma with yeast and dark fruit tones. The taste is floral with lots of apricot, figs and a hint of dark chocolate or more so molasses. Quite sweet, somewhat sherry-like. Better off served much warmer than the five degrees Celsius that the label suggests. Reminds me of those Christmas chocolates that have booze in them.

Cheval Blanc - Les Brasseurs RJ (Canada - Quebec - Montreal)

Cheval Blanc - Les Brasseurs RJ (Canada - Quebec - Montreal) 5.0%

A lovely floral aroma with a backing of wheat and apricot. A tangy and bright floral flavour with a umami malty body that combines with the fine carbonation to give Cheval Blanc an effervescent and satisfying punch. All of these great flavours come across even when it is served very cold which makes it a perfect choice for a spring or summer day. A cloudy white gold in a glass, Cheval Blanc is an all round lovely and delicious Belgian Style White Wheat.

9 - Magic Hat (USA - Vermont - South Burlington)

#9 - Magic Hat (USA - Vermont - South Burlington) 5.1%

An orange apricot gold colour in a glass. A very floral apricot flavour, sweet but not overly sweet with a nice hoppy hint in the background. Well balanced and although malty and a little bitter (especially in the aftertaste), #9 reminds me of a fruit wine, in a good way. Interesting, well balanced and refreshing, this is a very pleasant beer - perfect on this hot early Autumn day.

A Boréale Pair from Les Brasseurs du Nord (Canada - Quebec - Blainville)

Boréale Dorée 4.8%

A darkish bronze colour in a glass. Roasty, quite sweet and tones of grains, not bitter. A little musty - likely due to hardship experienced by the beer during travel from Quebec to New Brunswick. A slick looking label and cool bottle cap also.

Boréale Blanche 4.2%

Aroma is punchy and floral. Tastes like apricots and also spicy and a little bitter; not overly sweet. Quite a nice white, not very cloudy more of a pale gold in a glass.

McAuslan Brewing (Canada - Quebec - Montreal)

Griffon Red Ale 4.5%

Griffon Red Ale is quite sweet and it's the crystal malt they refer to on the back label that is responsible for that. In addition to the slightly nutty or wooden tones, I also taste a sort of fruity flavour of figs in the aftertaste.

A very pleasant red that is sweeter than most but is not sticky: most traditional reds are more roasty and reminiscent of a caramelized sugar. Interestingly, I would say the aroma has more of that typical stickiness I expect from reds. I find Griffon Red Ale to be more drinkable than most reds - drinking four or five of these Red Ales wouldn't be a challenge at all because it's more crisp than those other reds I was referring to. Overall, a good red and one that even those who wouldn't normally reach for a red would enjoy.

Extra Blonde Ale 5.0%

Very clear and just on the pale side of full gold in a glass. Sweet with a distinct caramel flavour, also fairly bitter. A little smoky.

Pale Ale 5.0%

Caramel and sweetness, and also quite bitter: sprucy with hops in both the taste and aroma. A strong malt backing bracketed by the sugary sweet caramel flavour of what I suspect is crystal malt, and the sprucy hops bitterness with some faint red fruit esters for character.

An interesting beer, complicated and tasty but the mix of flavours seems just barely out of sync: the caramel sweetness doesn't entirely mesh with the robust hops bitterness, although I am often sensitive to caramel overload. All in all, McAuslan's Pale Ale is an enjoyable American Pale Ale on the sweet, caramel end of the spectrum with a nice hops character.

Saint Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale 5.0%

A pale apricot orange colour in a glass. Fairly mild aroma, a strong apricot taste. Not dissimilar to an apricot wine. It is barely bitter (a little more so in the aftertaste), sweet, perfumy and has a background of moderate malt. It is like a somewhat strong tasting lager with apricot added. The apricot flavour is well done and captures the nice aspects of the apricot and is blended nicely with the malt of the lager - an excellent flavoured ale.


Note: I have previously reviewed their excellent Raspberry Wheat seasonal, Saint Ambroise Framboise.