Les Trois Mousquetaires

 Interview with Christian Marcil of Les Trois Mousquetaires 
 Non-Flash podcast

Les Trois Mousquetaires (LTM) was founded in 2004 by three partners who had been co-workers at Canada's Imperial Tobacco company. When that company closed the plant, the three decided to band together and strike out as a team to form a brewery. They started by acquiring a brewhouse from a brewery which had just closed, Express Broue in St-Eustache, QC. They established their operation on the South Shore of the St-Laurent river, in Brossard, just south of Montréal, nearby where they lived.

Bob, Christian, and B.R.

Over time, the brewery expanded their offerings from simple pale ales and red ales to exciting European styles, such as Bocks, Baltic Porters, Hefeweizens, and a host of specialty barrel aged beers. They brew about 12 regular styles year round, and six to seven seasonal offerings. They package their beers in 12oz, 750ml, and 3 liter (Jeroboam) bottles, and in 30 liter PETainers and stainless steel half-barrels.

Brewer Alex.

With their 15hl brewhouse (about 12bbls) they're able to brew four batches per day, and it takes seven brewing sessions to fill their largest fermentor, a 10,000hl vessel! Some brews skip the stainless tanks and go directly into oak barrels for primary fermentation, such as the Saison Brett, which gets a dose of wild yeast following the first fermentation, and ferments and conditions in Chardonnay wine barrels.

The bottling line.

In 2011 the brewery moved into a new facility down the road in Brossard, three times the size of the original building. They needed the space to keep up with their ever expanding production and their growing barrel aging program. They're currently working with about 140 various barrels, mostly oak bourbon barrels, but also brandy barrels and different wine barrels.

B.R. stakes her claim for the USA!

LTM is the largest brewery using 100% Quebec-made malts for their main production beers, sourcing the grain from Frontenac and Maltbroue malteries. Those suppliers are located in Thetford Mines and Temiscouata-sur-le-Lac respectively. Of course, they use some specialty malts from outside of Quebec -- malts that simply aren't available in the provence, such as smoked malt and torrified malt. They'd be interested in using more Quebec hops, too, but the supply just isn't available at this point in time, and the price is also a bit prohibitive. Hopefully that will change, with the demand for hops growing globally, as well as the demand for local grown ingredients possibly making hops a viable crop for QC farmers.

Quebec malted barley.

The brewery had an output of about 4,000hl (about 3,300bbls) in 2015, and looks to grow that in 2016. They currently sell their beer all over Canada, in the USA, Germany, France, Belgium, Australia, and recently began exporting to Brazil. Keep an eye out for their brandy barrel aged Old Bruin, set to hit the States in 2016!

Jack Daniels barrel.

Heaven Hill bourbon barrel from 1978.

In the grain room above the brew house.

Grain room.

Grain room.

The brew house.

Mash tun.

Mash tun.

Filter.

Mini-fermentor.

Fermentors.

Bottling line.

End of bottling line.

View of bottling line from above.

Numerous awards.

Péché Mortel And 3 Beans

[link to podcast page]
WFMU's Beer Hear! Péché Mortel And 3 Beans Podcast

Not long ago we discovered the Sixpoint 3 Beans beer -- a 10% oak-aged Baltic Porter, with some very special ingredients -- on the shelves of the local shops selling good beer. We were instantly intrigued and quickly addicted to the rich maltiness, alluring coco qualities and dense full body of this big beer in a slender can -- a can not too unlike a can of premium iced coffee.

After enjoying this rich, malty treat, I got to thinking, "I've had something like this before!" I was sure that 3 Beans was echoing another obsession. But what? Then it hit me -- Péché Mortel.

I was certain that Brooklyn's magnificent 3 Beans Baltic Porter had more than a little in common with Montréal's Dieu Du Ciel Péché Mortel. It turns out that there are significant similarities and significant differences. They're close in alcohol percentage (Péché is 9.5%, 3 Beans 10%), they both use coffee (DDC uses Fair Trade beans in copious amounts making it a noticeably stimulating intoxicant, and SP uses Stumptown roasters java). One thing that sets them apart is that 3 Beans use of cacao husks, provided by Brooklyn's Mast Brothers Chocolate, in the mash to impart a dry, dark chocolate flavor and aroma. Also unique to 3 Beans: the third bean in the mix, romano beans, adds more to the fermentables and helps provide fuller body. But it would take a side-by-side tasting to properly evaluate these two coffee brews.
 
Listen to the podcast to see what we discovered about the taste similarities and differences of these two champions of darkness and malt. And, by the way, if you see either of these beers on the shelf -- buy them! Drink them! Or hold on to them. If none of the above... sell them to me!

A Non-Beer Sidenote To Mondial Montreal

We hear news that NYC will get a Bike Share program in 2012. In May 2009 Montreal began the Bixi Bike bike sharing program. We looked at the program and decided that this was how we'd try to get around during Mondial.

Verdict: it's awesome!

You can't really do much better economically. It costs $5 a day, or $12 for 3 consecutive days. That's it. But you don't just keep the same one bike over that time. You only keep it for up to 30 minutes, and then return it to a bike depot, located everywhere. Well, everywhere that you might bike to within in 30 minutes. If you go over 30 minutes there are nominal extra charges ($1.50 for the first extra 30, $3 for up to 90 minutes, etc.).

But the idea is to free yourself of the hassle of having to lock up your bike. Basically, you grab a bike, go to your destination, get rid of the bike, then pick up another bike if you need it. Kind of like free love in the 60's, from what I'm lead to believe, but with bicycles. (You can't get pregnant from a bicycle seat, right?)

The bikes are kind of clunker three-speeds with big cushy seats and fat tires -- basically, slow cruisers. You're not going to go very fast on them (unless you're going south on Rue Berri between Rue Sherebrooke and Rue Ontario!), but they work for the 20-30 min. utilitarian ride. They have build-in front and rear lights, and a rack with bungies on the handlebars that allows for the convenient securing and toting of bags/backpacks.

You use a credit card to get authorized. They hold a $250 deposit for up to 10 days (though they just held it for 3 days for me). Every time you pick up a bike, you use the same credit card as your key. The kiosk gives you a numerical code, you punch that into any of the bikes docked, pull out the bike and go. You don't need to use the credit card when returning -- you just dock the bike and you're done.

There is an app for the iPhone that allow you to see where the closest stations are, AND how many available bikes/open docks are at each location! I couldn't find a Blackberry app for that, otherwise, we would have had an even easier time.

We biked all around the city, day and night, and found it to be extremely convenient and frugal. Granted, there will be times when you have to try 2 or 3 locations to either find an available bike or an empty dock to which return a bike. Example: Friday night when we tried to return a bike near CHEVAL BLANC. The closest location had only one empty dock, so I let B.R. take it and I went off to the next station. After all, how could I not be chivalrous, considering where we were going? Then the nearest station was also full. Damn. So off to the next not-so-close depot. Also full. (Below.)

Luckily, there were LOTS of empty docks right around the corner at another location. So, yeah, on some trips you might break even on the convenience, but on most trips, the time and money savings are well worth it. 

We Bixi-biked almost ALL of our trips: to the Fest, to restaurants, to brewpubs, to shops, to the bank. We biked to the Metro/subway for long trips. The few times that we didn't bike were to and from the train station at the start and end of the trip, and when the quantity of beer consumed made biking a bad choice.

And if you're out and about stuffing your gut with beer and poutine...

a little bike ride isn't such a bad thing!

Mondial De La Bière V

LA SUCCURSALE BREWPUB IN ROSEMONT

The Old Rosemont section of Montreal looks to be one of those old forgotten neighborhoods that is now being rediscovered. Down the main drag of Masson is a new brewpub called LA SUCCURSALE, which not only has its own brews on tap, but offers a nice selection of other Montreal/Quebec craft beers as well.

Kölsch and Porter.

On a lazy Saturday afternoon we were the sole patrons for about an hour as the very knowledgeable and amiable bartender Francis served up the suds. The PETIT-CôTE 4.8% Kölsch beer was served in the traditional Kölsch glass, had a brilliant clear pale straw color with a delicate white head, a lightly aromatic fruity nose, though more malty than fruity. The beer nailed the Kölsch flavor about as well as any non-Köln brewed beer we've ever had. (Captain Lawrence of Pleasantville, NY also does a bang up job on the style.)

Billed as a Porter, the 1814 NOIR (5.5%) had the aroma of small German brewery -- clean, direct and fresh. The roast flavor and bitterness of this very solid beer were well balanced, and the roastiness built slowly and steady to the bottom of the glass, and finished perfectly.

Francis of La Succursale.

If they had billed the LA SUCCURSALE AMBRé (4%) as something like a Farmhouse Ale or almost anything other than a British Bitter, then I think that we'd nod our approval. But we didn't perceive anything of what you'd expect of that style. Regardless, it was a very drinkable honest beer, with an accent on nice grainy, farmy maltiness, very subdued in all hops departments.

We finished up with a delightful Altbier that they call RADSCHLäGER AMBRé (4.8%). The aroma hinted at that impossible-to-describe Altbier malt quality -- is it the elusive Vienna Malt? How to put that in words? The flavor was malty and mildly bitter with a slight tang and a clean finish. Francis poured a sample of the DIEU DU CIEL's RESCOUSSE Altbier to compare. I have to say, I preferred the more malt-centric version of Masson/Rosemont to that of the much hoppier, bitter version of Laurier/Mile End. But Altbier... what a tricky one to put into words -- I guess that I prefer the northern Altbier to the Düsselfdorf style.

This inspired us to peddle across Masson back to Laurier and see what was new at DIEU DU CIEL since three days prior. We found Stéphane of the brewery standing outside of the pub curbside with two kegs of their Helles HELIUM. Apparently it had won the highest honors of the Mondial fest, a platinum medal, and was in intense demand! We helped Stéphane load the kegs into the car, and then loaded ourselves into the pub.

There were a number of new beers put up since last we were there, but I was compelled to revisit one that intrigued me on Wednesday -- the Spruce Beer ANNEDD'ALE. Its name means "tree of life" and is a reference to the first French settlers (lead by Jacques Cartier) being saved from scurvy over their first winter in the New World by eating the sap/bark of the balsam fir for it's health benefits, thanks to instruction from the Native Americans, or First Nations People. Ever since B.R. and I tried to brew our own Spruce Beer, to horrible effect, we've always been eager to try the very rarely brewed style whenever we've had the chance.

This bière de pin had a hazy pale straw color and modest head. It gave off an enchantingly beautiful forest-like pine aroma -- NOT Pinesol, but rather the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree, or sappy two-by-fours. It had a woody, earthy flavor, with pine filling the nose as you sipped. With a fairly light body and very little perceivable hop character -- you'd expect the pine character to take care of that -- it's an easy drink with a moderate malty graininess and a slight sweetness. Though low in ABV (4%), this is definitely a beer to be enjoyed by the glass, and not by the PINTE or PITCHER!

DDC's WEIZENBOCK called NATNITOR (7.9%) gave off a big banana, estery, clove-like bouquet. As expected, those typical German wheat beer yeast bi-products were present in the flavor, as well, along with an assertive alcohol presence. There was a mildly sour tang which added to the quite complex -- very complex beer! B.R. nailed it right on the head when she simply said, "Aventinus." YES! That's it! It took me about 50 words to do what she did in one!

We had at least 15 different beers from DIEU DU CIEL over the four days. This one was one of the best. I hope this one comes back around on the brewing schedule!

Our last beer experience (save for the lunch beers we brought for the train ride home, all DDCs (purchased from Marche des Saveurs) was a late night near our borrowed apartment in Petit Italie. Originally we dropped by BENELUX for the nightly post-Fest gathering. We got there 30 minutes early, hoping to secure a seat and settle in. It was already a mob scene before the beer crew arrived, packed wall to wall (Grand Prix?), so we opted out of that.

We met our pals Eric and Dave at THE bar in Montreal to try the greatest variety of local and regional craft brews, VICES ET VERSA, which often has over 30 different drafts going.

I'd seen the SIMPLE MALT beer FUMéE MASSIVE around, and was happy that I could try it at VetV. It was a strong, thick 8.6% smokey experience, not quite SCHLENKERLA or SPEZIAL smokey, but rauchy/peaty nonetheless. The smoke was also dominant in the flavor, along with a bit of a medicinal phenolic note, but nothing too detracting. The full bodied flavor rounded out as it was sipped down.

B.R. opted for the CHARLEVOIX OATMEAL STOUT. It was hard to get too much of the nose, but the scents of the food being served around us was more the reason than anything else. As you'd hope for in this style of beer, it was very smooth, tasty and not too roasty.

I wanted to try one particular beer, but the board on which I saw it was out of date (there are four beer boards at VetV, and some are bound not to be updated). While I was checking out the up-to-date board the waitress brought me a sample of RUINE PAPILLES ("ruined taste buds") from á LA FûT, which was WAY more bitter for my taste. I didn't even finish the few ounces left.

So, next I got a BRASSEURS ET FRERES beer called MORT DE RIRE (Dying of Laughter). The board didn't list the style, but, despite a mahogany color (I think -- it was pretty dark in the bar), the flavor and subtle malt aroma, lack of a strong hop aroma or hop flavor, reminded me of a Belgian Pale Ale -- something similar to SMUTTYNOSE's STAR ISLAND SINGLE. I wondered what they were going for with the beer. We pondered, "brown ale?" (That's what RateBeer lists as its style, we learned later.) There was a BRITISH BROWN ALE on the menu from á LA FûT, so I got a glass of each to compare. The Brown was definitely more hoppy and more towards the darker malt flavor end of the spectrum. The Mort beer seemed more refined, with subtle malt flavors, and a gentle smoothness that made me think that I could easily drink another glass, in fact a full pint of it -- so I did!