Assemblage Orange 2018
Microbrasserie Du Lac-Saint-Jean

What a crazy beer, hard to say exactly what I think of it and can’t recall another very similar at all. Firstly this gushed like crazy which had me worried but fortunately I was near my mouth, sink, and glass so didn’t lose much. Once in the glass we have a dark, dull orange murky brew with a slowly receding head and ample clingy lace. Aroma is like an imperial wit or something, steady undercurrent of alcohol and a surprisingly assertive herbal note despite this being only “5% Blanche aux
Herbes boreales.”

These herbal notes continue making their presence felt in the tasting, although they are thankfully countered to some extent by the spirit barrels (brandy and rum). You get herbs, Wood, bitterness, alcohol, lightly sweet malt that quickly dissipates and dries, tannins, a wisp of tartness. Black pepper.

Medium full bodied and pleasingly smooth and mouth coating with manageable carbonation despite the initial gush.

Uh, I don’t know. This is a sophisticated and extremely complex beer I won’t soon forget.
In the end I really enjoyed it but probably would have been better served sharing it rather than soloing. Strong and different. As an American beer drinker at the end of the decade this is so welcome though. A reminder there is a world out there behind the DDH mosaic hazy Instagram cans. Grateful for that and for this thought provoking creation.