Le Cheval Blanc Rousse
Brasseurs R.J.

Le Cheval Blanc Rousse

I stumbled upon this beer at a convenience store in Montreal during a recent visit, and only had highball style glasses available in my hotel room. As such, it’s a little hard to fairly judge this beer’s appearance and presentation fairly as I didn’t have proper glassware available.

Still I was intrigued by the words “wheat red” on the label, so I figured, what the heck. Let's give it a try.

Poured a more amber-copper color than red. Had the requisite aromas one would find in a wheat – but tended more towards a general “alcohol smell,” likely due to the bottle fermentation and small amount of yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. I was expecting a bit more cloudiness as with a traditional wheat, but there was none.

There were some sweet notes that had me a little worried that this brew would be a bit sweet for my tastes, as I tend towards bitter, hoppier brews overall. Thankfully this beer wasn’t too sweet.

As for mouthfeel, the Rousse is much more crisp than a traditional wheat, with more carbonation. Still haven’t decided whether this is good or bad. Mostly it’s just different.

All in all a drinkable beer, though it seems to be a mixture of styles, say, an amber with wheat characteristics. For those looking for something more traditional or completely different from the norm, this may not be a beer they’d enjoy. For the curious, however, it’s worth a try.

Pourred a very thin dissapating white head and weak aroma of wheat (I have been used to strong wheat aroma from Cheval Blanc, this seems very weak in perspective). Very subtle taste of spice, almost non-existent. This won't break any record. Probably one of the weakest beer from the Cheval Blanc rooster.

341mL, bottle-conditioned.

Having now had Cheval Blanc's three standard brews and the Coup de Grisou I've found there's a certain note to the flavour of all four that is quite similar. I'm going to attribute that to the yeast used.

Pours out a copper colour... this is a red? I'll attribute that to the French, for whom beer is blonde (blonde), red (rousse), amber (ambree), or black (noire). That's the extent of their descriptives for beer. No stout, barelywine, pilsner, even ale or lager. Anyhow, it's a clear copper, the yeast stays in the bottle. There's a nice head at the pour which fades back to a thin covering layer. Broad lacing is left on the glass on its way down. A sweet, rich taste, with that slightly spicy yeast note that I mentioned. Nice soft mouthfeel and easy smooth drinkability. This beer's a winner, a good drinker, but it won't knock your socks off.