Session IPA
Microbrasserie Charlevoix

 

Serving: Bottle
Bottled: Jun-20-2019 (Consumed Sep-5)


A:
Pours clear orange gold with a big old white, foam insulation head. Great
retention and lacing. (4.25)

S:
Forest floor with some pronounced caramel and toasty malt sweetness that ends up overtaking everything. (3)

T:
Follows the aroma. Sweet and a touch bitter, tight pine snap, but with loads of molasses horse oats, caramel and dirty hop flavors. (3)

M:
Bright fizziness, decent body for being a session, drinkable despite itself. (3.75)

O:
Meh.
Lovely looking and otherwise just ok. It luckily doesn't suffer from the hollow feel of so many session IPAs, it is too far balanced towards the maltiness and overly old, which I wouldn't even mention (hell, I wouldn't review it) if it hadn't been bought at the brewery itself. Too malty (and oxidized), not dry enough, nice hop
character, but would have been better fresh and as the star rather than the malt bill. (2.75)

This one pours a slightly hazy dark orange color, with a big fluffy head, and lots of lacing.

This one smells like crackery malt, piney and grassy hops, and a bit of grapefruit.

It's a session IPA, so it's flawed from the outset. It's super watery, with too much grassiness, and just so thinly flavored. It's basically hop water, and that's not a good thing, if you couldn't tell.

This one is fairly drinkable, because of how watery it is, but it's not something I necessarily enjoyed drinking.

I pretty much regret buying this, it was not good.

 

 

Vache folle, an old bottle from feb 2017 in a shady store (shame on, shame on me) : Veiled and dense hazy golden color with good activity. Creamy and frothy meza, quite explosive, light beige 3-4 finger head, lasting around 15 minutes and making serious legs. Flavors of sweet grains dominant barley, pineapples, orange, peach, caramel, Wild yeast, and floral hops. Slick and oily medium to full body with a moderate crisp. Medium strength finish, highly flowery and a bit rustic with sharp yeast and a decent tropical feel on the tongue, not too coarse nor leafy. Light straw and bardyard effect with a hint of clove. I still find the taste pretty good after all that time, with more subtle hops it balance everything out but most probably turns it further into a rustic pale ale or Saison intensity. Although the body did take a bit of a hit making it kinda dull, still remains the murky sensation that is trademark of the Vache folle series, kinda milky. Good freshness and accessibility. Overall very good quality craft.

 

 

Appearance - Poured a clear bright amber color with 2 fingers of foamy off white head. The carbonation and rentention both seem pretty lively with this one!

Aroma - grapefruits, grainy malts, caramel a bit of mango and a bready yeast aroma. really not all that much going on but what is is a clean IPA aroma. nothing special but ok.

Taste - Again with the grapefruit, orange peel, some mango, a little earth, hay, Grainy malts, caramel, again I'm picking out flavors and they're fine but they arent melting together in a way to make me say awwhh and feel like describing said awwwwhhh

Feel - light, watery with moderatebut pricky carbonation on the tongue. its bitter but not how an IPA should be.

Overall - This is a session IPA and in all honesty considering the low amount of sugars used this isn't a horrible example. They have created a low alcohol IPA, does it taste like an IPA? yes. Do the flavors mix badly? no. does anything stand out and make me think its worth buying again at the price point? absolutely not. There are better local beers for less.

 

Bottle: Poured a bright amber color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of light fruity ester with some citrusy hops notes and Belgian style malt notes. Taste is a mix of residual sugar notes with some fruity ester and some Belgian style malt with nice floral citrusy hoppy notes with limited bitterness. Body is full with good carbonation. Enjoyable with nice little Belgian spin on the style.