Moisson
Benelux Brewpub & Café

Harvest ale bitter

Notes taken at the Brewpub on October 19th

A- Beautiful, cloudy, dark copper with a mid-sized, light as light beige can be head. Not exactly impressive but it all looks nice.

S - Bubblegum and peach. I've gotten peach in few Benelux beers tonite so i don't know if its a common yeast, hop (Cascade?) or my nose but it still smells good.
T- Light, pure, good grain then peach bubblegum as well as peach AND bubblegum. Finish is a mix of all these flavors. A tiny hint (and I really mean a tiny hintl) of macro lager artificialness.(sounds silly but if anyone knows what that damn taste is except for ''adjunct'' please Beermail me. Tastes green yet ready to drink.

M-full mouthfeel. High carbonation which'll make you burp tons. Still very smooth. Perfect dryness.
D-very good. What's a session beer? 4.2? Anyways, this seems close. Very tasty but little to take you away from drinking a bunch except from being a tiny bit too sweet and boiled veggie like.

Good beer. I definitely recommend it.

Beer description from the brewer himself: This "wet hop" style English Bitter is, despite what you might think of its name, made from 100% Quebecois malt and hops from Franklin, Ste-Adele and ... Ahuntsic! The term "wet hop" refers to those beers where fresh hops of the day have been used ... In fact, we've picked them just hours before putting it in the beer. According to Ben (from Benelux), the success of this beer is due in part to the fact that they ate poutine at Gregoire on the way back from Franklin.

The beer was made Sept. 18 and i had a pint on my visit on Sept. 25. I was only going to have a glass but the waitress has just poured herself a pint so i said what the heck. I did not regret it.

Appearance: Slightly hazy orange body with a nice head (1-2 fingers) that lasts and lots of lacing on the glass.

Smell: Even as she poured it, it's all hops all the way. Granted, they are probably not as strong as last week. The waitress said the whole place smelled of hops when it was made. Not too bitter with a healthy dose of a floral and herbal aroma mixed with some mango.

Taste: Man is it fresh! It has a week on it but you wouldn't know it by tasting it. Some grapefruit but the main act is the mango that is quite delicious. A good bitterness that isn't aggressive and lasts long after the sip.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and effervescent with good carbonation. Solid body and very well balanced.

Drinkability: Mmmm good. So tasty that if i wasn't going to DDC, i would have snagged another pint for sure.

Overall: Sadly, this beer won't last and will only be available at next year's harvest but you can be sure that i won't miss it. A winner by all counts.