Brown bottle, 341 ml, best before March 7 2008, purchased at Le Grand Duc on November 12 2007, savoured on December 21 2007; eye: ruby, clear, good effervescence, good creamy beige head, no lacing; nose: plum, candied fruits, caramelized malt, light hops, light bread, dusty grains; mouth: soft, plum, caramelized malt, liquorice, a bit of hops which becomes more present as a result of the carbonation, nice balance, finale where the liquorice becomes more present with a bit of hops on the side, liqueur-like, creamy texture, medium to full body, light astringency, somewhat more "watery" close to the finale; overall: quite liked FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 341 ml, meilleure avant 7 mars 2008, achetée chez Le Grand Duc le 12 novembre 2007, savourée le 22 décembre 2007; œil : rubis, claire, bonne effervescence, bonne mousse crémeuse beige, pas de dentelle; nez : prune, fruits confits, malt caramélisé, léger houblon, léger pain, grains poussiéreux; bouche : tout doux, prune, malt caramélisé, réglisse, un peu de houblon rehaussé par la carbonatation, belle équilibre, finale où la réglisse se dévoile au côté d’un peu d’amertume, un p’tit côté aqueux plus présent en finale, liquoreuse, texture crémeuse, corps moyen-corsé, légère astringence légèrement sucrée, très légèrement houblonnée; en résumé : bien aimée

Bouteille. De couleur noire rouge et opaque. Nez de malt rôti, de chocolat noir et au lait, léger de mélasse et de café moka et avec des notes fruitées (raisins, traces de prunes), de réglisse noire, de fumée, de crème et de noix. Ronde-moyenne en bouche avec un pétillement moyen et une texture riche et moyennement crémeuse et aux notes huileuses. Goût de chocolat au lait (notes lactiques) avec un léger goût de réglisse noire et des notes de crème, de fruits (raisins, notes de prunes) et de fumée lors de l’entrée en bouche suivi rapidement un goût moyennement amer de malt rôti, de chocolat noir et léger de mélasse sucrée et de caramel et auquel se rajoute progressivement un goût de café noir et de café moka jusqu’en finale avec des notes de houblon herbeux et de noix. Post-goût long, moyennement amer de rôti, de chocolat noir, moyen de café et léger de houblon herbeux.

Draught pint at le divan orange in Montreal on 1/26/07
Medium-sized white head slowly dissipates to partial-cover and then ring, leaving marginal lacing. Bubbly, pale-gold liquid is mostly clear and has light peach-copper hues throughout.
Pleasantly and not overly spiced nose shows dry coriander and white pepper-like notes. A zesty almost tangerine juice-like note takes on the lemon/orange-zest portion and right there you’ve got a good portion of the aroma. Unfortunately, Boreale’s house all-purpose yeast dosent provide much, if any, excitement. Not a true wit yeast and it really shows. Granted, it’s quite clean and you can’t fault that, but it’s just rather tacky. Nutty, dry, and only mildly estery at best. So the aroma falls mostly on the spicing. At least then, they know to do that with reservation. Medium aroma strength, but in a crowded bar from an English pint it was still easily sniffable.
High carbonation, rather obtrusive, picks apart an already highly attenuated body with orange, lemon and peach notes laced all throughout. White pepper and just a touch of honeyish sweetness provide most of the flavor with a soft herbal, hoppiness that keeps things gentle despite the overdone carbonation. But rather boring, overly clean yeast gives it more of an American wheat beer with Belgian spicing feel. That’s ok, I’m not going to fault them for the yeast they use. The important thing is that it’s clean, well-attenuated and drinkable. Maybe a bit too peppery and slightly seltzery/carbonic on the end.

2006 bottle drunk on 9/2/06.
Fluffy, beige-tinted off-white head is medium-sized and recedes steadily to cover. Some sticky lacing is left behind. Clarity is medium-high to high, with a sparkle of large bubbles rising throughout the deep copper-brass body. As the comm. description says, there is a slight hint of a coral/salmon color.
Stiff fruits and plenty of rich caramel sweetness fills up the nose. Sweet peaches, ripe apricots and a hint of canteloupe, it tapers off in to a slightly sourish note of heavy crystal and/or munich-like malts. Not much in the way of hops or alcohol, so the toasty, sourdough-bread notes are left to balance, which, IMHO, don’t balance, but just cause sourness/acidity. So you get the typical sweet and sour marzen-like effect, only the yeast isn’t very crisp here and the malts add an almost candy-like syrupiness which I find to be overbearing.
Almost the aroma in flavor form, sweet, syrupy malts begin to cloy and are balanced by dry fruits (peaches, sweet pears), dry, toasted and sourdough-like maltiness. Heavily bready, with no yeast finesse (somewhat mineral-like in nature, though I wouldnt quite say metallic. Some phenolic spiciness). Certainly not a beer meant for refreshment. So I assume it’s a slow-sipper. But who the hell wants to sip dull caramel/candy sweetness with toasted-malt acidity/sourness on the end? Texture is comforting, with moderate carbonation and a slippery-thick feel to the malts. Alcohol presence is minimal for its strength. Rather brutish.

FDark brown ale with a very thin off white head. A very sweet vanilla and butterscotch in aroma, a bit cloying. In mouth, a rather sweet intense beer, with notes of vanilla beans, and light hops. Medium bodied. On tap at Bieres et Saveurs, Sept. 2, 2006.

An amber beer with a nice orange head. The aroma is sweet spicy combined with notes of strawberries. The flavor is also sweet with primary notes of berries - but here it is raspberries, on a nutty background, which also gives it a nutty end.

A black beer with a brown head. The aroma is sweet with notes of roasted malt. The flavor is sweet and again with roasted malt being most dominant, but it also has notes of chocolate.

An unclear light yellow beer with a nice white head. The aroma is sweet with strong citrus and wheat notes. The flavor is sweet wheaty and very spicy, combined with notes of coriander and lemon. There is nothing wrong with this beer - it is jus average.

Deep dark pour that produces a thick black body over a head that resembles a chocolate thickshake. Nice roasty warm chocolate aroma. Dark chocolate and roast malt bitterness towards the end. Smooth full palate.