La Grognarde
Microbrasserie Sainte-Hélène

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at the Avenue Pub in New Orleans.

A: Pours a hazy golden/yellow color. A small white cap forms, but sticks around throughout. Light lace.
S: Herbal and grassy hops. Peppery spice, musky yeast. A peppermint aroma that is very nice. I like the nose.
T: Follows the nose with a peppery, phenolic, musky yeast. Grassy and floral hops are in balance. Peppermint flavors that brings out a light sweetness.
M/D: A medium body with crisp, but finely carbonated. Smooth at the same time, as well as a nice dryness. Very easy to sip quaff. All day with this.

Avenue Pub has this classified as a Saison, which I agree with. I have never been a fan of the Belgian IPA classification, and this is a good reason why. Just a touch of hops, with a nice Belgian yeast character. Something I would recommend.

On tap at the Hudson Street Stackhouse today.

The beer pours a solid gold color with good head retention and lacing. The nose is pretty nice, showcasing honey, light ginger, a hint of vanilla and some underlying spice. The flavor profile replicates the nose in this well made beer, and I appreciate the light mouthfeel and dry finish in this. The light hoppy bitterness counters the modest sweetness very nicely, and you can tell the abv. is fairly low in this beer. My only complaint is that I wish there was a bit more flavor to this beer, as the mid palate is a bit light/watery.

While nothing outstanding, this is a pretty nice, easy to appreciate, sessionable Belgian IPA.

An unusual beer! Served with a nice foamy, frothy off white head and lots of lace. Color is a very cloudy lite - medium amber. Aroma is spicey, hoppy, malty,. Taste is mainly bitter with some citrus, yeast, a bit of grain and a tiny bit sweet. Lots of good carbonation and good body. A very loooonnnng finish that is like the taste. A bit too bitter for a session beer for me. But very good nonetheless.

Coming in a 500ml brown swing-top bottle, no freshness date is marked on the beer label. Served lightly chilled in Hapkin's deep tulip-shaped bowl.

A: the swing-top pops open with a bang no matter how careful I was, helping to result in the glass a huge rocky off-white froth on top of slightly murky, dark yellow-ish golden hue with lively carbonation.
S: the astringently citric/grapefruit-zesty hoppy and complex fruit-estery notes upfront are backed by creamy malts, sour-sweet yeastiness as of a lactose-drink, and an intense layer of sugar and salt; at the deeper layer are notes of dense, lightly stinky honey with unknown floral tinges. Not bad at all, intensely dryish fruity in terms of yeastiness, true to the style of a Belgian Golden Ale exemplified by Duvel.
T: from the very beginning, the taste is immediately spicy-bitter and dry with a "rough" mouthfeel of powdery yeasts and sharp bitterness carving its way through; neutrally-flavoured bready malts (almost without any sweetness) along with salty dried citrus peels follow, before the utterly dry and salty palate of ever-lasting bitterness take over again, resulting in an impressively long, bitter finish... very deep down the throat, a faint wave of warmth quietly lurks.
M&D: quite fluffy on the mouthfeel with lots of lively microscopic fizz to tingle the taste buds, on top of a medium body that retains pretty well throughout. Normally this kind of imbalanced, rough flavour profile would not appeal to me, but the overwhelming hop bitterness and sharply dry, tangy mouthfeel almost like a Tripel-minus-the-rich-maltiness keeps my palate shouting for more~~ tastes like the yeasts have hungrily consumed 100% of the sugariness in the beer? A more-ish golden ale this is.

Golden blonde appearance, intense, almost amber. Slightly clouded, A decenwhite head, one finger.
The smell is not bad. Floreal, camomile, a note of honey on the malty base. Fresh. Belgian.
Same in the taste, but also a good strong sharp bitterness. Very hoppy.
Intense, absolutely pleasant.
Good close in the the aftertaste.
A good surprise.

BBE jul/aug 09. Another example of wetted pants and messy floor after opening, though this one gushes not that bad.
Pale golden beer and white head. Nose is spicy hops; decently brought in as a late gift but missing the piny and dryhopping so don't know if I cathegorised right. With the green nose also bit of sweetness from malts and bit of citrussy hard to say if from hops or yeast.
Bitter taste is first impression but soon followed by some palemaltbody and alcohol noticable. Mostly bitter though witch stay long after the sip. Fine but bitter mouthfeel and highly carbonated. Enjoyable brew that drinks just fine.