Mondial De La Bière IV

POST-FEST GATHERING AT CHEVAL BLANC

Every night after the Mondial closes at 10pm, there is a set meeting spot for the brewers and their entourages -- on this night it was at Montreal's oldest brewpub, and still one of the best, CHEVAL BLANC. They're also a brewery that sells bottles and kegs in bars, restaurants and at retail.

The main Chevalier, Sir Jerome, was on hand. He told me that he was inspired to open Cheval Blanc after visiting the Manhattan Brewing Co. in NYC in 1986. We'll have to get more on that out of Jerome in the near future!

Jean-François of DDC, Jerome of Cheval Blanc, Stéphane of DDC.

Eloi, brewer of Cheval Blanc brewpub, on the left. 

 

Also, the brewpub's head brewer, Eloi, was behind the bar, working the "bottle list", which had been beefed up to satisfy the demanding palates of the attending beer nerds extraordinaire. And satisfy he did, with a crazy array of top shelf brews, including some from De Molen.

Eloi's own creations on tap included a RAIZIN WEIZEN BRETT (5.8%), fermented with wild yeast and aged in chardonnay barrels. It was delicious, with a sour, tangy complex flavor and aroma on top of the expected German wheat beer attributes.

The SAISON SORACHI (5.8%, 30 IBUs) had a substantially malty (grainy) backbone supporting very floral, flavorful hops, with reasonable bitterness balancing it out.

TRIPLE CHEVAL BRETT (9%) used Amarillo, Citra and New Zealand Hallertau to compliment this sweet, malty creation, which had a tea-like, unfermented-wort-like character, and good bitterness to keep it even keeled, along with the Brett flavors to keep it well complex.

A rich red color painted the glass of SAISON FRAMBOISE BRETT (6%), and hinted at the sweet/bitter raspberry flavors and pleasing fruit aroma.

How many beers does BR need? Three. From L-R: Triple Bock Bourbon, Brett Saison, Triple Brett.

There's nothing like finishing strong, and the TRIPLE BOCK BOURBON (9.5%) did just that in ALL departments. Eloi must have wanted this one to really pick up what the bourbon barrels had to offer, because the smokey-peat aromas and flavors were perhaps over represented. The bunch of us that sipped it found that maybe it had too much character! There was a burnt candy sugar and burnt caramel flavor in the super viscous sips, as well as some higher alcohols mixing with the yeastiness. A figgy choco-molasses flavor was present. This beer had everything but subtlety! We had some TRIPLE BRETT left over and found that mixing the BOCK and TRIPLE made for a good blend. Don't tell Eloi!