Ale on lees.  Yum!  When I see "ale on lees," I know it's a Unibroue beer, and I'm typically a fan... no matter who owns them.  Even if it had Trader Joe's on the label, I thought it'd be worth a spin.  And for $4.99 on a 750ml bottle that was 9%ABV, I was willing to take a risk. The Pour:  The pour on this was a murky, blackish brown.  There was a nice foamy latte cream head on the brew, which was propped by a very active body. The Nose:  Plenty of those powdery Belgian yeast qualities were present along with an herbal quality. Cloves were present on the nose as well as a perceivable sweetness and iron hints.  Like much of Unibroue's beer, Vintage had a vinous (wine-like) note as well. The Taste: I thought this had a ton of cloves on the taste and wouldn't be surprised if a fair amount of wheat was incorporated into the brew.  The cloves were matched to a much lesser extent by banana tones. Unlike some of Unibroue's other beer, this had a bit of alcohol warmth.  Some sweetness was left, which is nice because it was a fairly dry beer.  Touches of vegetable ...

Lord of the manor, larger powers, or independent.  All of these words could be used to describe Unibroue's position in the Canadian market.  Really, I gave you the definition of what the word Seigneuriale means, although it could be what this brewery is.  Unibroue is located in French Quebec Canada and is a fairly sizable operation that makes several millions in sales (close to the area of ten million).  Unfortunately, they are now owned by Sleeman, the lackluster beer maker of Canada, which is actually owned by Sapporo.  But don't assume guilt by association.  They are, in fact, a very independently minded brewery. If you have ever had or seen any of Unibroue's beers, you will notice that they use pretty thick bottles.  The reason is because they are firmly Belgian in their brewing tradition, using Belgian candy sugar and putting their beer on lees (fresh yeast in the bottle).  Everything they make is, at the minimum, worth a try. Seigneruriale is 7.5% ABV and is considered a strong amber ale.  Unibroue suggests pairing their beer with carved ham, apricot glazed duck or squab, thai shrimp curry or holiday fruit cake.  Maybe give it a try with one of these things. ...

What ill things can one say about Unibroue?  Well, the patriotic Canadian may complain that it is owned by Sapporo.  Other than that, this brewery located in Quebec Canada, puts out some fantastic Belgian style ales with quirky apocalyptic sounding names (La Fin Du Monde = The End of The World; Maudite = Damned).  Perhaps since the language of the province is French (one of the three national languages of Belgium) it mystically elevates their Belgian style ability, or perhaps founder André Dion's was just that talented. Regardless, I am rarely let down by Unibroue product.  In fact, I may go so far as to say that the Belgian reformation here in the US craft beer scene was pushed along by Unibroue. I picked up a bottle of Unibroue's Terrible, without knowing much about it.  I have tasted everything by the brewery that could be found locally up to this point, and Terrible was a new addition to the shelves.  (Does any one else pester the staff incessantly for new arrivals?)  The dark black bottle with silver writing was ominous enough to entice the dark side in me to purchase. The Pour: Terrible (man I love saying that) pours dark and black into the ...

The whole point of an Anniversary is to accommodate retrospect, and given the chance, I'll accept the accommodation.  History being a keen interest of mine, I'll take any opportunity to learn a new subjects history, and often that opportunity is beer.  When I spied a bottle of St. Ambroise 20th Anniversary vintage Ale, a classic barley wine,  perfectly packaged in a cardboard canister, I bought it "sight unseen," meaning, I had no idea what would make this Anniversary ale worthy of drinking. Surprisingly, Canadian beer is slightly overlooked in the United States.  In fact, Labbatts or Molson aside, I would be willing to bet that the average beer drinker would find it easier to recall a brewery in Thailand or Chile easier than one from our Northern neighbor.  I'll be honest, I had seen St. Ambroise Wheat Ale several times before but lacked motivation to pick it up.   Seeing their vintage anniversary ale so nicely packaged, and sporting an ABV of 9.8%, my motivation was found. Motivation was found as well to do some research on the beer.  Besides possessing a fixation with all things human-past, it is disconcerting for me to drink a beer without knowing anything about the brewery that ...

This brewery from Quebec makes some very unique beers, including an ale made with peppercorns and a wee heavy with maple syrup. I still think they’re my second favorite Canadian brewery behind Unibroue. They are worth a try if you can find their stuff. This particular ale incorporates hibiscus flowers in the brewing process. The Pour: A red maple body with little head retention was the body of this seemingly simple looking beer. The body shimmered with semi-active carbonation. The Nose: A tea-like quality and flowers were on the nose. Some sweetness remained along with (call me crazy) an aroma similar to strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups. A somewhat “powdery” yeast aroma also made its way to my nostrils. The Taste: I personally enjoyed the initial hint of sour tartness to Rosee. There was a flowery quality to the beer, but I don’t know that I would have picked out exactly how or why it tasted that way if not for the label. If you can pick out hibiscus flower without previous knowledge, then do a guest post for us from time to time. As the nose indicated, there were nice tea leaf qualities and an herbal spice/powdery yeast touch to this ...

As American and world markets tumble headfirst into ruin, not only are the movers and shakers and owners of various institutions affected, but the little guys, like you and I feel the pinch as well.  Besides the fact that we (and our children...and our children's children) will be paying off a $700 billion mortgage for the next 30 years, many poor souls are already experiencing direct repercussions of a broken economy  whether it be in the form  unemployment, an empty gas tank, a runaway interest rate on an adjustable rate mortgage, or even foreclosure. Personally, this writer and his has been affected by the former--unemployment--and has had to make many sacrifices.  After months of combing the want ads and countless application, I am happy to report I start a new and better paying job this coming Monday.   However, as the past several months have necessitated meager living, beer has been left out of the budget--it missed the cut as a necessity.  Keeping food on the table and the house from foreclosure was certainly a much higher priority than quaffing a pricey palatable beer.  So when beer did happen to find its way into my arid oral cavity, it was usually not ...

Hopefully there are more people drinking it "with us Friday."  A special thanks to you, Dave, for sticking to our "regiment."  Here are my impressions of the beer.  I started with the pour, which produced a rich light brown and creamy head.  What is nice about this is that the head stuck around.  I noticed that the carbonation bubbles were very fine in this beer.  Although the beer appeared to be brown, it had some gorgeous deep amber tones, which match the colorfully dark label on the beer.  It got on swimmingly with the glass (I actually drank it out of my Unibroue glass). Next I smelled the beer.  Delicious.  There was a definite grapish/wine smell to the beer.  No doubt (the expression, not the group), the beer got this quality from the lees.  It also had a sweet, malty smell with little noticeable hops qualities.  There were tons of wine characteristics in this beer, not only in smell but also in taste.  The smell reminded me of ripe fruit (as the bottle suggests).  Pinpointing the fruit was not easy, but I caught cherry or strawberry.  (Unibroue actually makes a cherry driven ale called Chose.)  I suspect that the yeast helped promote ...

Here is the "drink with us Friday" beer...Trois Pistoles (three towers).  Look for it in a four pack or a 750 ml bottle.  The 750 ml bottle might run around $7.99, so share it with a friend.  The four pack may run you about $9-11.  The 9% ABV is plenty for you both.  This beer from Canada (Quebec) has a reputation for brewing its ales on lees, which are grapes used in making wine.  For a good apologetic on why their beer costs what it does (or any good beer costs what it does) check out Unibroue's website.  Their main page wil also allow you to read about their beers and methods.  I've had the pleasure of having multiple beers of theirs on tap (including this one).  Leave it to a French Canadian brewery to use grapes and come up with a delicious result.  I can't wait to drink this.  We may feature another one of their beers before too long. P.S. I want to encourage those who try this beer to try it with one or multiple friends.  I'm actually excited because I'm planning on drinking this locally with some people from work.  YUM!