Mondial De La Bière III

Our second day of the Mondial had a much more organized approach. Since we had our list of beers and brewers and our initial scouting from the day before we were able to target specific beers that we wanted to sample, and brewers to meet, and do so with better knowledge of where everything was located in the immense exposition space.

LA BARBARIE is a Quebec brewery that we were already well familiar with and while we found their beers to be very good, nothing ever really jumped out at us, stylistically. But a new brew that they had at the fest, CUIVRéE AU THé, was worth noting. The base of it had almost a Saison beer character -- by the way, "cuivrée" means copper colored -- but what sets it apart is the use of Earl Grey tea in the brew. It gives the beer a pleasant herby quality, similar to what grains of paradise can impart to a beer. Highly recommended!
We made our way to another familiar Montreal brewery, CHEVAL BLANC, which is probably the first Quebec craft beer that we ever had, way, way, WAY back. The brewpub was founded in 1986 -- the first modern brewpub in ol' Hochalega. While well familiar with their standard brews, they had a new one on tap at the Fest, a CITRA WEIZEN -- a German style wheat beer hopped with Citra. Those particular hops provided an added spicy note to the expected German wheat beer aromas. It was tart and bitter with plenty of banana/yeastiness in the finish and aftertaste. Well done.

The day before we tried beers from Ontario's BEAU'S ALL NATURAL BREWING, and at least one of the two we tried justified a return trip. We sampled the stronger version of BOG WATER, a Gruit Ale, which we had earlier -- a beer brewed with bog myrtle. The BOG FATHER was a stronger version, though we found it too, too sweet and viscous. Their WINTER beer had a really nice coffee aroma and flavor -- not roasty or acrid, but more similar to a beer version of a coffee soda. The BEAVER RIVER L.P.Eh! was quite hoppy with a hint of orange/citrus mixing with the malt aroma/flavor. It had a nice sweet grainy aroma, clean and malty. They earn points as the ONLY exhibitor to have not one but TWO HOCKEY SWEATERS on display, both custom promo jobs for the brewery! (We only mention it because they were in Sens colors -- we accept no blue and white jerseys east of Vancouver!!!)

On to à LA FûT brewery for their LA CRIQUE, a kriek beer with a dull pink/red color, lightly lactic, phenolic, cereal aroma, and dull yeasty cherry flavor, with mild sourness (I know that doesn't sound so good, but... it's not that bad). It's made with: "de type griottes du temps des cerises de charette en mauricie." Well, I'm not certain of what that means, but that sounds like some fancy cherries, eh.

On to BOQUéBIERE, which had one of the most impressive booths in terms of the variety of beers, information available, and the display layout. Boquébiere had one of our favorites -- out of roughly 50 beers we tried in Montreal over the 4 days -- their HILDEGARD ROUGE DES CANTONS, a 7% Flanders Red. I'd say that it ranked in the top 5. Aged in oak red wine barrels, this Quebec malt beer fermented with wild yeast had a deep mahogany color, an effervescence, a Rodenbach-like nose, strong initial tartness/sourness, some Brett and yeastiness, but finished out gently, with a slight grainy aftertaste. The wine barrel aging definitely imparted some tannic wine qualities. Well worth a try!

Does this look like a video game? I thought so, too.

Boquébiere's HILDEGARD AMBRéE D'éPEAUTRE (5%) was a murky straw color, good head and had a tart, tangy nose as well some clean lager sweetness in the aroma. Brewed with Quebec barley and Eastern Townships Compton spelt, it was wheaty, slightly sweet and grainy with a floral hop flavor and very little bitterness (dry hopped with Premiant, brewed with Hallertau hops). Quite tangy yet malty, refreshing with a solid body.

The Flanders Red.

The brewery whose beer we had the most of during Mondial week was DIEU DU CIEL (God In Heaven) by a mile (or by 1.6km). Always the innovator, yet always very consistent with high quality, they poured a CASCADE BLANCHE (5.5%) that was tart and citrusy with a lemon zest note. It's decidedly much more bitter than the average Blanche. More (much more!) DDC in later posts.

We were blown away by HOPFENSTARK's Raspberry Berliner Weiss the day before, and now it was time to be blown away by their BOSON DE HIGGS, a Saison brewed with smoked malt.
Interview with Hopfenstark's head brewer/owner Fred

Whoa! It had a murky straw color, and an assertive smokey nose. But not Bamberg Rauchbier-smokey -- a bit more subtle. The smoke flavor was also subdued, but quite evident, accenting the tart yet not quite sour, slightly cereal flavor. At 3.8% it was one of the few beers under 5% at the Fest -- a nice change of pace.

We bumped into brewer Jonathan of TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES who got us a sample of A'LABRI DE LA TEMPêTE's BELLE SAISON (5.8%) which had a clear, Helles-color and was pleasantly herby, with a malty cereal note. This brewery is one of the most remote in Canada, based on the tiny Îles de la Madeleine, in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, between Quebec and PEI. Their one winter activity listed on wiki-travel: "A popular activity is to observe young seals on the ice floes during winter." Oooookeh, then. Another beer, SVP!!!

Off next to BROUEHAHA the the SPECIAL B ABT 10 Abby beer (listed on their board at 8.5%, but in the Fest guide at 10%), which had a clear alcohol note right away giving way to more pleasant figgy/date aromas. It was a convincing rendition of the style with nice dark candy sugar flavors, dark fruit notes and the alcohol not overwhelming the flavor, but providing one of the many complexities of this mellowingly tangy, full bodied drink.

That's enough beer for one entry!

Mondial De La Bière II

The Mondial is held in the Bonaventure convention hall downtown across from the Central Station where we arrived. The venue lacks the warmth of the outdoor location used the last time we hit the fest. But it's filled with acres of beer stalls, offering (probably) over 500 different beers.

Beers are served in small 4 oz. sample cups, unless you bought the optional glassware, which often means a much bigger pour -- though not always. You buy beer coupons for $1 each at a ticket window, then use the coupons to pa for the beer. The beers cost between 2 coupons (or $2) and 5, with many going for 3. The higher ABV, the more tickets required to experience that ride! But if you know the brewer or bartender, you're likely to get a few gratis.

On Thursday I had some early errands to run, so B.R. hit the fest early. By the time I had arrived I was ready to try to catch up. The first stall I went to was HOPFENSTARK, a Montreal area brewer. Fred, the brewer, was on hand and he offered our first round on the house. I had his BERLIN ALEXANDER PLATZ, a 3.2% raspberry Berliner Weiss. It had a slight murky attractive pink color, an aromatic with raspberry and was perfectly tart and refreshing! It was sour enough to be quenching without going over the line. Fred said that he uses about 40kg of fresh local raspberries in a 700 liter batch.

Fred recommended his End of the Trail I.P.A. to B.R., which had enough hop aroma, flavor and bitterness to satisfy any connoisseur des houblons, yet also had the malt to back it up.

Across the way, BENELUX, another Montreal brasserie, offered the ARDENTE, a "brettanomyces saison." The brett character was there, but very subtly. The tart blanche character married well with the brett, and gave the beer a slightly wild, woolliness.

Though we had plenty of DIEU DU CIEL the night before, we stopped off for a NOCE DE SOIE, a Saison with Sancho and yuzu, and CHAMAN imperial pale ale, a 9.5%, a slightly stronger version of their usually 8% double I.P.A.

Not everything that we tried at the fest was amazing. I got suckered into trying "white beer with champagne" -- LA FUTéE -- by some barker. I'll have to check on the name of the brewer -- the drink was not worth remembering. (It was PETIT FUTé which isn't a brewery, but a tourism promoter.) In short, it was dull and flat and aside from being wet, there's not much good to say about it. They make a black beer version of it, too. I didn't bother.

BEAU'S ALL NATURAL of Ontario had a nicely visual display. B.R. was recommended their flagship beer, LUGTREAD LAGERED ALE, which they boasted won "best craft beer in Ontario" at some point. Though it had good color and clarity, it had a grainy, homebrew-like flavor. Their BOG WATER had a lot more character -- a murky brown gruit brewed with bog myrtle that had a hint of molasses flavor.

I also tried the BROADWAY PUB's (from Shawinigan, Que.) "CELEBRATION", their Märzen, which was tasty and malty, though way sweeter than you'd ever expect for that style. The BLACK MAMA schwartz bier was a good example of the style with good roast malt notes without any acrid bitterness.

There were a bunch of other items that we sampled, including some ciders, but nothing worth mentioning, except for the amazing cheese bread offered by PAIN VOYAGEUR, one of the few food items available at the fest that was not some kind of weird meat (alligator, bison, turtle, bore, kangaroo -- yes KANGAROO).

We really got treated when we met with the other Quebec brewer named Fred from CHARLEVOIX in Baie Ste-Paul, about an hour north of Quebec City -- Jean-François of Dieu Du Ciel was with us.

He started us off with the DOMINUS VOBISCUS TRIPLE which and a really nice, yeasty -- but clean -- aroma, with a pleasant perfume-like note. At 9%, it also had that bit of alcohol bite associated with the style.

Next it was the BLANCHE, which is made with curaçao orange peel, coriander and chamomile! The flavors melded perfectly to give uniqueness yet balance to this great summertime ale. Following it was the DOUBLE, which was estery and fruity, with a faint banana/figgy flavor, with some bitterness in the finish.

We wrapped up with the LUPULUS, their very hoppy 10% beer. It was so aggressively, and pleasantly hopped, with wonderful flowery hop aroma and reasonable bitterness, that it didn't seem close to being 10% -- i would have guessed 8%. It had a bit of "triple" qualities and hop flavor in the aftertaste. Definitely a sipping beer!

That was it for the day at the Mondial. Next it was time to stuff ourselves with moules et frites at BIERE ET COMPANIE! Later in the evening we hit the insiders after-gathering at BROUE PUB BROUHAHA.

They had some very interesting items on offer, including a MAPLE DOUBLE "with a secret ingredient" added in a bar-top randall. Hops? Yes, but that's not all! Please... don't tell us -- YES! BACON! Ugh, give us a break, already! They put it in ice cream, they put it in toothpaste, they put it in everything. And while it may enhance some items, it didn't do anything for this (possibly) good beer, except make it flat, and taste like stale, semi-burnt french toast. The FORÊT ENCHANTEE (Enchanted Forest) bière de Noël they offered was dark, strong, roasty and very much spiced. And their BLANCHE SOLEIL spiced with peppercorns was good enough to wash away any actual bad taste left in our mouths from la bière de porc!