Bottle: Poured a black color stout with a medium dark brown foamy head with good retention and some light lacing. Aroma of dry coffee notes with some roasted malt with some faint black chocolate notes. Taste is also dominated by dry coffee notes with light floral touch with some dry roasted malt with notes of black chocolate that are quite subtle. Body is about average with good carbonation. Quite a lot of character even though the ABV is quite low for the style.

Single bottle from Marché Omni. Pours a dark copper colour with ruby highlights. Big creamy, beige head with good retention and some thick lacing, here and there. Nutty nose at first, but lots of darker fruits come out (dates, prunes) with candy notes of caramel and some weird hop that does seem like it belongs. This does not carry through in the taste, thankfully. A little lighter actually, but better. The grassy finish is better balanced with the caramel malts, roasted malts, raisins and nutty character. Not one I would really have again though.

Single from Marché Omni. Pours a real dark brown colour with a little red highlights. Nice creamy-frothy beige head with good retention and sticky thick lacing. Dark fruit aromas (plums, dates) with roasted malt, hints of coffee and very light vanilla. There is something else I cannot pinpoint, but annoys my nose a bit (maybe the hop used). Thankfully, the hop acts better in the taste. Roasted malts, notes of chocolates with the grassy bud. Nice creamy mouthfeel that goes down well. Not sure why this one is that expensive though, as there are better porter for cheaper.

Bottle: Poured a clear golden color ale with a large foamy head with good carbonation and some lacing. Aroma of fruity ester with light citrus and mango notes with lightly sweet malt notes. Taste is also dominated by some lightly sweet malt notes with some mango and fruity ester with limited bitterness. Body is a bit light with good carbonation. Well brewed and I enjoyed the fruity mango notes.

Bottle: Poured a bright clear golden color ale with a medium size foamy head with OK retention and not much lacing. Aroma of grainy cereal notes with some dry notes is not the most exciting. Taste is dominated by light cereal notes with a light dry aftertaste. Body is about average with good carbonation. Easy drinking with fairly limited character.

Bouteille 341ml. De couleur dorée-orangée et claire. Nez de levures sauvages fruitées légèrement acides (pommes vertes, agrumes sûres) aux notes épicées (poivre doux), léger de houblon floral avec des notes de malt sucré et boisées (bois humide). Moyennement ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen ainsi qu’une texture aux notes crémeuses. Goût de levures sauvages moyennement fruitées et acides (agrumes, surtout de citron avec zeste, moyen de pommes vertes), moyennement épicées (poivre doux) et aux notes terreuses lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un léger goût de grains de malt aux notes sucrées avec des petites traces de pain. Parallèlement, l’on retrouve un léger goût d’alcool jusqu’en finale, où une légère amertume asséchante de houblon floral et herbeux s’y développe également avec des notes boisées (bois humide). Post-goût moyen et sec, composé d’un goût de levures sauvages aux notes fruitées acides (zeste d’agrumes) avec un léger goût d’alcool ainsi que des notes boisées, et de houblon floral.

Aroma: Crystallized fruits, cherry, brown sugar with a bit of chocolate and coffee. Nose sticking out from light to moderate. Appearance: Black, opaque, thick and creamy brown head, very dense and a bit rocky. Head is lasting very long with a beautiful lacing. Taste: Attack is all coffee with a very long roast bitterness finish. Smoke accents with a bit of ash are adding to to already strong bitterness. Too bad that we didn’t find any sweet accents. There’s only coffee in there. Only bitterness. An uneven beer; Nice aroma, nice look but taste is deceiving.

Sample, 4-ounce, from a bottle, during the Hivern’ales, savoured on January 24 2012; eye: golden, clear, no effervescence, tiny ring of off-white head; nose: drying hops, grapefruit, light tangerine, light soap-gum, slight malt; mouth: drying hops, grapefruit, light tangerine, soap-gum, really dry finale in bittering hops with presence of grapefruit, medium-full body, rather bitter, lightly harsh texture; overall: fine FRANÇAIS Échantillon, 4 onces, bouteille, bue lors des Hivern’ales, savourée le 24 janvier 2013; œil : dorée, limpide, pas d’effervescence, petit anneau de mousse blanc cassé; nez : houblon asséchant, pamplemousse, léger tangerine, léger gomme-savon, très léger malt; bouche : houblon asséchant, pamplemousse, léger tangerine, gomme-savon, finale très sèche en houblon amérisant avec présence de pamplemousse, corps moyen-corsé, plutôt amère, texture légèrement granuleuse; en résumé : bien