Galère
Microbrasserie Le Corsaire

 

473ml can - once again, even with research, I don't get this one's meaning. Are they talking about games rooms?

This beer pours a clear, medium copper amber colour, with four flabby fingers of puffy, rocky, and somewhat bubbly off-white head, which leaves some stellar random and sudsy continental drift lace around the glass as it lazily sinks out of sight.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, a much lesser biscuity toffee sweetness, some indistinct dark orchard fruitiness, ethereal earthy yeast, and some plain leafy, weedy, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, white saltine crackers, still hard to parse black stone fruity notes, some weak bar-top nuttiness, fading generic estery yeast, and more understated musty, leafy, and floral green hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly timid in its dialed-in frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, nothing really making any sort of fuss here, as such. It finishes off-dry, the biscuity malt showing some lingering chutzpah.

Overall - this is one of the better versions of both the style, and this particular brewery's offerings of late, as it comes across more like a junior ESB of sorts. Simple, and quite easy to drink, as we say fucking good riddance to the rest of this god-forsaken year.

Slightly clear hazy golden color with low activity. Light creamy beige 2 finger head, lasting around 5 minutes, mediocre legs with average swirl reaction. Flavors of sweet barley grains, caramel, peach, walnuts, and herbal hops. Slick and rounded full body with moderate prickly carbonation and a light crisp. Medium strength, slightly roasted and hoppy while heavily grainy and bready. Swirling the glass will reveal complex aromas of walnuts and wood. Proper English feel with good freshness, balance, and intensity. This will please those who doesn't like hops. Overall very good quality craft.

 

 

 

Corsaire is across the Saint Lawrence river from Quebec City. This was founded by the master brewer from l'Inox.

Very cloudy with straw color. Decent starting head but it settles quickly and leaves no lace.

Mild aroma but accurate for the style. Well balanced with a soft peppery hop.

Very pleasant but unremarkable favors. Again, accurate for the style. This time the malt is a soft, not grainy, pale malt favors. The hop bitterness is understated but provides a nice counterbalance. The body is near perfect.

Six pack of 473 ml cans. None exploded on me so +1 there.

The smell and sight of this very light ale is nothing to write home about and in fact I can think of nothing generous to say about either other than they are not repulsive in any way.

The taste is okay, with a sharp lemony hop bite that is gone almost as quickly as it arrives.

Unfortunately this spicy hop taste is replaced with an over carbonated prickle, that leaves the mouth feeling greasy.

For being the only canned micro available in Montreal I'll give it a passing grade.

A- This looks okay. Thick white head went quickly and I now have a hazy dark apricot topped by a ring and patch. A little lacing. What seems to be yeast is floating about.

S- Cinnamon and sour fermented pineapple juice. I also get something sweet and meaty which is weird. Like beef stew or baked beans but really the main theme here is sour fermented fruit.

T- Kind of scared to taste this one because of the smell.
Whoa. was not expecting this. I'm wondering if this is supposed to taste like this. It's crabapple sour with a woody bitterness. As it warmed up I thought: "Sour morningbreath"

M- Soft carbonation. Very astringent.

D- Goes down easy but tastes pretty dirty.

If it was labeled as a gueuze I probably would've given this one a warmer welcome. The whole time I just kept thinking: "What is this?" It tastes like a mistake but it was still interesting to try. The label says: "golden ale with rich malty aroma and plenty of hops" I find all of this misleading.
EDIT: Okay I read the other reviews and see that no one really picked up what I got. This might be (I've never seen this) a bad can. I didn't mishandle the can and I don't think the store could've done much to damage the beer so I'm leaving my review up. I find reviews are based on a consumer's experience and this is my experience with their product. If I do purchase another one, I will post an update.

473 ml silver can with a stick-on label, as pictured above. Thanks to my Quebec connection ZorPrime for the trade. Label describes this as a "golden ale with rich malty aroma and plenty of hops."
Pours slightly hazed, golden copper color. Off white foam that shrinks to a thin cap, but never disappears, some sticky lace. Smells of malt, a bit sweet, but I sense some buttersotch, no hoppy aroma comes through. Taste is a bit tart, similar to other english pales. Not getting alot of hoppiness, even in the finish. Medium body and mouthfeel. Easy enough to drink. Ranks just above average, a bit disappointed by the lack of hop bite.

(Reading the other reviews after, I see that I am not alone in my assessment)

Can: Poured a golden color ale with a medium foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of grain and cereal is quite dominant with some dry caramel malt notes as well. Taste is also dominated by some grain and cereal with a pretty dry finish of caramel malt with no discernible hops presence. Body is about average with great carbonation. Not the best beer I've tasted but must admit that this is pretty close to some of the English example of the style that I have tasted in the past.

Tasted on August 19, 2009.

A: Copper looking. Head is looks like soap foam and sticks well to the glass.

S: Malts and nothing else worth mentioning.

T: Malty and bitter, just like an english pale ale I would say. No notes of caramel however...

M: Medium body.

D: Easy to drink... however, the taste is not that great. On a hot summer day, yes I could drink more than one but other than that...

This is not a great beer and I do prefer Bristol... On the can it says the beer is heavily hopped... well I didn't get it on the smell or taste... bummer.