Bottle 33 cl. Pours a hazy golden with a small, white head. Nose is sweet banana and clove. Medium body, again sweet banana notes and a dry finish without any real bitterness. Decent if not exactly a world class Hefe. 110819

18/3/2019. Bottle from La Cave a Bulles, Paris. Pours hazy/cloudy pale dull orange/gold with a small off-white head. Aroma of sweet pineapple, mango, passion fruit, citrus, light resin, herbs and bittersweet Sorachi Ace hops. Moderate sweetness, medium bitterness. Medium body, light creamy texture, above average carbonation. Dry, with bitterness increasing to finish. Enjoyable, though bit too much fizz to it.

Bottle at home from, La Cave a Bulles, Paris, 22nd April 18. Pours slight cloudy straw. Aroma is citrus, lemon. Taste is citrus, vanilla, floral, typical sorachi, with a good dose of hops. Good.

Bottle in garden, on hottest April day in England ever, 19th April 18. Thought this pina colada IPA a good choice for the weather. Pours slightly hazy yellow. Aroma is coconut, some tropical fruit. Taste is coconut infused juicy beer, slightly sweet, more coconut a hint of ripe pineapple. Great fun.

330ml bottle from V&B Annecy. Pours hazy yellow, medium white head. Aroma is floral, sugary. Taste is crisp, hoppy, floral with a confident sweetness and fairly high carbonation. Not especially Vermont-like in character, but still rather fresh, bright and hoppy.

The APA in this surprisingly good series of French Alps craft beers, thanks to Marie for the bottle! Very thick and frothy, egg-white, regularly structured, dense, lacing head on top of a hazy peach blonde beer with warm egg yolk-like yellowish hue. Aroma of orange zest, lemon balm, lime juice, dough, oregano, white grape peel, soap, unripe green banana, star fruit, damp hay, light passion fruit touch. Clean fruity onset with hints of star fruit, green banana and guava with a very light sourish gooseberry accent, fizzy carbo, soft and soapy mouthfeel; cereally, rounded pale malt sweetness in the middle with a very light caramelly edge, chalky accent especially in the finish, which is otherwise ruled by a soft, mellow but expressive and very aromatic hoppiness, grapefruity and a bit kiwi-like with a faint piney note, applying gentle bitterness to an otherwise rounded, juicy malt ending. A tad ’lemony’ and chalky, could have been a bit maltier perhaps, but in any case technically very clean and to the point, elegant and way above average for a French ’artisanal’ beer if you ask me - like their other ones. Too bad I got to try only three of their beers, the next time one of my friends goes to this region for a winter holiday, I must not forget to ask them for a bottle of these guys’ imperial stout or imperial IPA...

French Hefeweizen (never thought I’d use those words combined in a single phrase), big cheers to Marie for the bottle! Thick, foamy, moussy, snow white head leaving a membrane of lacing and crowning a hazy straw blonde beer with somewhat ochre-ish hue, the haze being perturbed by fierce sparkling. Aroma carries a truckload of banana ester, from banana mush to banana-flavoured bubblegum, overseeing more subtle impressions of ripe pear, cloves, soapy wheat, white bread dough, canned pineapple slices, apricot, straw, field flowers. Sweet banana onset with faintly sourish peach and plum hints, bready maltiness with classic ’wheaty soapiness’, medium carbo, soft and fluffy mouthfeel, bit doughy; breadiness increases a bit in the finish thanks to the yeast suspension, yielding some clove-like phenols but more subtly so than in a typical Bavarian Hefeweizen; deeper sourish graininess and rounded banana sweet flavours linger, under a floral hoppy touch which does not execute any ’expressive’ bitterness but does bring things to balance. Technically very well done, classic in its conception, but perhaps a bit too much banana-laden, almost reminding me of the Dutch interpretations of the style, but less simple and more, well, why not, ’artisanal’.

An American style IPA from the French Alps... Thanks Marie for the bottle! Thick, regular, creamy, dense, stable, egg-white head over a bright amberish-tinged orange golden beer with vivid, almost champagne-like sparkling, clear. Aroma breathes dank and ’tropical’ hoppiness with impressions of pink grapefruit juice, fresh mango, lychee, passion fruit, biscuit, dry marihuana, oregano, mandarin peel, green banana, bread crust. Clean, refreshing fruitiness in the mouth, tangerine, lychee and granadilla, quite tropical from the start, soft and supple, oily mouthfeel with a very slightly metallic edge; smooth biscuity and subtly toasted maltiness supports an expressively aromatic, lively hop finish, adequately bittering without turning into tonic water-like harshness and pushing up grapefruity, mango-like and lightly piney aromas retronasally; remains juicy and refreshing in its tail. This caught me by surprise: never expected an IPA of this quality and elegance to come from this region. I suspect France will be the next country to embrace the craft beer revolution - there are some pioneers active already, and this one is clearly one of those, even though I had never heard of it. Very pleasantly surprised!