Invasion Brettanique
Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!

Appearance: Hazy honey brown with a nice bubbly head
Smell: Funky, soapy, stone fruit aroma
Taste: Bitter with plum and apricot flavours
Mouthfeel: Nice bite of carbonation
Overall: Delicious beer with Brettanomyces funkiness and stone fruit flavours

From a bottle

 

A: Pours a murky nut brown like color with a huge tan colored head, very fluffy looking. Retention is very very good as well as lacing.

S: Medium to strong smell. You get some caramel, leather, molasses and vanilla as is expected from an old ale but also a ton of cooking spices: cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg. There is a decent amount of funk in the smell with horse blanket, hay and general musk. Some light residual sugar seems to be there but it seems pretty light for the genre. Maybe some light red delicious apples.

T: Powerful taste. You get a ton of molasses, leather and straight tobacco leaves and a light amount of vanilla. Cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg are still there and strong. Lots of hay and some general funk/musk. Quite a bit more bitter hops (vegetal and grapefruit skin) than expected. Light residual sugars. A touch of acidity. As it warmed up, an orange juice note started coming out.

M: Better than most brett-ed big beers but still too light and airy for the flavors IMO. Still, a medium body with strong fluffy carbonation.

O: Really powerful unique taste. You don't see often as much tobacco in a beer as this one. I'm trying to be objective as I usually don't like brett-ed big beers (would have loved to see the "base beer" behind this one) but this seems pretty good IMO.

★★★½
Une puissance navale britannique.
En ce début de fin de semaine Pascale de quarantaine, il est important de bien s'abreuver pour conserver un état d'âme ouvert et sain. Parce que'en ces moments de confinement, la démence nous entoure de ses longs bras et il faut garder l'oeil ouvert, et le bon, pour demeurer sain d'esprit.

Serving: Bottle
Bottled: Oct-22-2019 (Consumed Dec-13)


A:
Pours dark honey orange-brown, hazy, a few fingers of cream foam that stays solid for quite a while Slow settle, easy to rouse. Some lacing. (4.25)

S:
Cherries, moldy wood, tart brown sugar, leather, roasted nuts. (4.25)

T:
Earthy, spicy, charred bread-crusty malt, faint red fruits, herbal bitter/boozy tingle at the end. (4.25)

M:
Pretty dry, active carbonation, light alcohol warmth. (4)

O:
A very tasty, complex, earthy, old aley beer.
Looks lovely in the glass. The aroma and flavor are both very complex. Nose more fruity with a hint of tartness. Both packed with earthy, funky Brett and big, semi-boozy malt character. This is an easy drinker for as big and bold as it is. Could be a touch richer in feel for me. But an excellent beer on all fronts, regardless. (4.25)

More than half the bottle gushed out onto my kitchen floor upon opening. Once that was all cleaned up and the remaining 4 or so ounces of beer in my glass settled, the body appeared dark amber, almost acorn brown, with a tall tan head seemingly never settling, leaving thick lumps on the surface and chunky lace on the glass.

This beer features booze and brett rather heavily. It has a nice mild Jester King vibe to it, but the booze and brett overpower, leaving less room for the hints of nutty oak and herbal bitterness that come out on the semi-dry finish. The body is medium-light, and the carbonation is softly filling.

Bottle: Poured a hazy deep amber color ale with a large off-white foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of caramelized malt with light toffee and some light fruity Brett notes. Taste is a mix of dry caramelized malt notes with some light toffee notes and some fruity Brett notes. Body is full with good level of carbonation and no discernible alcohol. Superb old ale with nice drinkability with some good level of complexity.

 

 

 

 

 

Deep amber and cloudy with 3 fingers of deep, beige head.

Smells of Brett and funk, hay blanket, macaroni and cheese (Kraft Dinner) sour balsamic and light floral notes.

I was expecting a dry, sour bomb, but its surprisingly sweet, mixed with sour, then a big, dull bitterness. There's funk and jam and oak barrels. Choke cherry like fruity bitterness.

Medium, slightly syrupy body, with moderate to low carbonation.

Got this in the winter pack from Brasserie Dieu du Ciel, when in Gatineau around Christmas. Drinking in Muskoka April 27th, 2018. Old Ale? I was thinking Flanders Red, but certainly not typical for either style.

 

 

From a 341ml bottle, dated 2017-04-03. Served in a cervoise.

Pours a muddled and murky caramel-taffy colour with a generous finger of lush whipped-latte foamy head. Retention is apparently infinite with a solid curtain of lacing sheeting down the glass. (In fact, 40 minutes later, there's still a solid thick cap on my beer and it's going to take a scrungy pad to get all the dried suds off the inside of the glass).

Nose of sweet sticky date pudding with contrasting sharp notes of apple cider just before it decides to either turn hard or to vinegar.

Taste is woody, tannic and caramel apple-sweet. Like the nose, it's apple cider on the cusp between sweet, boozy and vinegar. Otherwise, not super-complicated but pleasant and light on the palate, very mildly acidic and moderately sweet without being at all sticky or syrupy. Finishes with orange peel, maybe a little currant, and some bright, bitter zinginess that more or less cancels out any of the preceding sweetness.

Feel is crisp, refreshing and unexpectedly light bodied with nice, zippy carbonation that keeps everything moving right along, again, not unlike a hard cider.

Overall, a very nice late afternoon beer enjoyed in front of the woodstove. I've only had but a couple of old ales before and I'm no expert but I'm thinking this is somewhat lighter, brighter and punchier than is expected of the style? At any rate, it was delicious and I'd absolutely have it again.