Rousse Bitter
La Barberie

Service: Bottle
Bottled on: Jul-29-2014

A:
Pours a brilliant, slightly hazy copper with a big three fingers of solid cream and lots of yeast flecks, head slowly settles to a decent little cap. Good retention; sticky lacing. (4)

S:
Caramel and pepper. Caramel, bruised herbs, black pepper, some leather. (3.5)

T:
Herbal bitterness. Caramel and bread take a backseat to hard water and medicinal/herbaceous hop flavors. (3.5)

M:
Smooth-drinking with a medium body and a slow finish wears a bit after a while. (3.25)

O:
This is a fairly good beer but it could definitely be better, in my opinion.
Pours really nice. Both the aroma and flavor are about what you'd expect from an English bitter. The aroma is rather muted, though, and the hop flavors become a little one-dimensionally overpowering by the end of the glass. Not bad. Would be curious to have it fresher. That is to say, fresh.
Might have again in the right circumstances; there are better options, though maybe not for a bitter. There doesn't seem to be much English influence in Quebec. (3.5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A - Poured with one finger of off white foam on a clear, reddish brown body. The head settles slowly and leaves thick lace.

S - Some toffee and a spicy hop aroma.

T - Toasty malt up front with a bit of herbal hop character. More malt and a bit of caramel in the middle. Finishes with dry, toasty malt character and strong, soapy bitterness.

M - Medium thick body, moderate carbonation, and a very dry finish.

D - A nice interpretation of an English bitter. The bitterness is a bit harsh for my taste and the malt could be more round, but it is well done overall.

A - Pours and amber colour with a nice three finger, rocky, white head. Lot's of carbonation. Cloudy. Leaves really neat lacing all around the glass.

S - Mild but I get some bready notes from malts. Complimented by some nice hop characteristics and a touch of yeast.

T - Mild. A touch of that breadiness is pushed out of the way by that piney hop profile that lingers for a little bit with some bitterness. Good but definately nothing too complext and not a whole lot to write home about.

M - Light body with good carbonation. Like a bitter should be.

D - I wouldn't want too many of these. The flavour is a bit of a letdown. Sessionable and probably good for watching the game, but not something I'm gonna seek out or look back on too soon.

Red pour with a finger of tan head that laced well as it dropped to a persistent film. For those people not conversant in French, 'rousse' implies a red hue, and there's no doubt that it delivers on this. Decent nose has some great balance too it, with citrus hops going up against biscuit malts and a little bit of altbier character.

Each taste reveals a herbal bitterness with echoes of berry and citrus. Toasty, biscuity malt provides some body and also tones of cocoa and earth. Some mineral in their too. High hopping for an English bitter, and more in line with a new world take. Really not too bad were it not for the body, which is a little thin and watery for the style. Carbonation is moderate.

I had a sample of this beer a couple days ago, stopped the bottle and finished the rest last night. I was shocked that the beer tasted exactly the same as the original tasting and had only lost a very small amount of carbonation. Wine stoppers look like the way to go!

Bottle:

Copper-with orange highlights, lightly hazed smallish cap with fair retention and good lace.

Nose is citrus-yeasty with grassy notes. Moderate mouth feel and body, toasty-grainy malty up front with some nice fruits and hop bittering kicking in to balance, drying resinous bittering in the finish. Well made session ale but nothing overly striking about it.

I know they have good beers but it seems something is always a little off. Let's see.

A- A still red amber topped with a thick, whipped, light beige head. Clumps as it recedes as does the abundant, almost perfect actually, lacing. I'm getting nice rings graduating each sip I take.

S- Mostly hops here. Rocket candy or sweet-tarts, pixie sticks and chewable vitamin C tablets Strong citrus. Lime and mandarin but really little to no grapefruit. Quite a bit of yeast. Let it warm a bit and get candied apple malt profile. You also lose a good deal of the fruity hop explosion.

T- Whoa. Got a little surprised here. The smell leads you on with so much fruity sweetness, I wasn't expecting such a heavy, bitter chocolate hop taste. Damp defrosting forest floor. Metallic and watery. Just got something that describes this pretty well I think: a black currant tea that's been steeping for a while. It's possible to focus and find some of the citrus but the taste is extremely different from the smell. Tons of flavor in this one but I still think it tastes like water

M- Thin and highly carbonated. Dry finish. Not a particularly enjoyable mouthfeel to me.

D- Very light body but highly carbonated. You can drink it quick but then feel bloated. It does offer a lot of taste so you constantly want another sip to taste more. I don't want a second bottle and I'm pretty sure I won't buy this again.

Tons of flavor in this one but I still think it tastes and feels like water. Great job showcasing the hops but I think it's the lack of body that ruins this for me.

On-tap at the brewpub in St. Roch.

This beer appears a clear dark red amber hue, with a bit of off-white head, which leaves minor lace as it settles. It smells of bready grain, and bitter, noble hops. The taste is biscuity malt, and soft pine hops. The carbonation is quite tame, the body decently round and full, and it finishes with a soft hoppy burp. A nice pint on a lively warm Monday evening patio.

My 2nd beer from La Barberie in as many days. Thanks to Zorprime for sending it my way.

In the looks deptarment this one is a reddish muddy brown. Nice color but the head quickly falls flat.

The smell is of strawberries, earthiness and some bread.

Taste is bittering but not floral and only a hint of sweetness from the malts is visable. Unfortunately not much balance.

The high carbonation on this one leads to a fairly prickly mouthfeel. Drinkability, at least for me, is below average.

Thick, immovable foam crowns an almost clear red liquid. Nose is hoppy with tangerines in the forefront with hints of pine and grapefruit. My French isn't so good, but the bottle says something about "une explosion houblonnee", which can't be a bad thing. Malty body despite the big hopping, with light toasted grain. Fruitiness is fairly low, or outmuscled by the citric hops. Body is a bit on the light side and I can't say there's a ton of complexity in this, but at 4.5 abv I think that's pretty forgivable. Good, straightforward, balanced, drinkable, lighter darker ale.

A- This is dark ambre, almost copper looking beer.
S- I smell lots of hops with some spices.
T- Simply awesome taste. Very bitter and with more takes, I taste some notes of suger/caramel...
M- I feel the effervescence of this beer, crispy. Good mouthfeel.
D- I would take this, everyday!

A - Dark clear ruby red with visible carbonation and lots of thick white head.
S - Raw smell of strong fresh hops, making it almost plantlike. Very floral. Smells of raw unsmoked weed and hemp.
T - Tastes heavily of hops, plants and flowers. Has some nice malt tastes of roasted barley and clovey dark red fruits and berries. Very hoppy dry finish lingers long. The thickness and earthiness give it a leafy taste with is nicely balanced with the sweetness of the malts.
M - Very nice mouthfeel, but a little syrupy and throat clogging.
D - Pretty drinkable beer, the hops make it quite thirst-quenching and refreshing.

My first cask beer! Sampled at Le Saint-Bock, on to the beer:

This bitter is dark orange in color, topped by a nice white head. Retention is good. Sweet sticky aroma arises, akin to caramel. The taste is slightly fruity, but it's more of a straight-forward bitterness. Diacteyl makes an apearance before being pushed down. The finish is long and bitter. Pretty good overall. I think it would have been less bitter if it weren't cask conditioned.

bouteille brune de 500ml. embouteillée en sept 2007

bière de belle couleur cuivrée-rouge, très claire. mousse dense et durable, nez houblonné frais et fruité, bouche agréable, amère, très amère en finale du probablement au houblonnage à froid. bonne bitter.