Beerstitution is on a roll: a full half year old

A flavoured beer theme invited the risk of unpalatable beers — but what we got was an interesting range we would almost never normally discover. Flavoured beer is one of the 8 major styles of beer as categorized by the World Beer Awards; it is further broken down into flavours sub-categories such as chocolate & coffee, experimental, fruit, herb & spice, honey, smoked, wood aged. BV6 Beerstutioneer submissions covered all but smoked and wood aged.

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Pre-tasting politics

Upon discussing the elusive previous Beerstitution write-up, we came up with away to encourage all future hosts to complete their write-up before the following Beerstitution:

Beer ye, beer ye — Read all about it

NEW BEERSTITUTION BY-LAW 1.0
If your write-up is not live before the next Beerstitution, you must bring two (2) kinds of beer to the said event.

And in other news…
On an unpaid, unsolicited promotional side-note, Corey exclaimed:

Les Soeurs Grises: Go there all the time.

The warm-up beer – we made it a thing

A bottle of Éphémère Apple by Unibroue / 750 ml (compliments of co-host Scully)
+
Corey P. proposes…

…host provides warm-up beer (for tasting while waiting for time-challenged Beerstitutioneers).

Nobody objected, so… motion unanimously adopted.

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BV6 – THE LIST

1. Scrimshaw Oyster Stout – Irish stout (Genevieve L.), 355ml, 4% | Barley Days Brewery, Picton, ON | Notes : Green Gables Malpeque Oysters from PEI added to the brew | Comments : Chocolate, smoke, coffee, no fishy smell of taste, solid stout, well-balanced, “Smells like Halifax” (Chris S.), the sea, salt is slightly detectable. — BRST° Rating: 3.5/5

2. La Marie framboise, (Simon C.) 355ml, 5% | Microbrasserie St-Arnould, Mont-Tremblant/Saint-Jovite, QC | Comments: Fruity, “Smells like Smucker’s.” (John M.), “Cafeteria raspberry jam with the seeds and everything.” (Dave M.), “Tastes like Clearly Canadian.” (Richard), initial attack is strong, finish is all raspberries. — BRST° Rating: 1.5/5

3. Coup de Canon – Bière noire au café, (Chris S.) 500ml, 5% | Microbrasserie Le Bilboquet, Ste-Hyacinthe | Notes: Orge malté et torréfié, café, houblon Northern (amérisant). | Comments: Smell is Coffee, big time. Green vegetables (green pepper): “Oui! Exactly!” (all). | BRSTTTN Rating: 3/5

4. Beau’s Bog Water – Bière de gruit, (Boris) 600ml, 6.6% | Beau’s, Vankleek Hill, ON | Notes: Bière de gruit aromatisée à la myrte des marais | Comments: “The Hills are alive with the sound of Gruit.” (Corey), “Sweet pungency.” + “The name is apt. (referring to Bog Water).” (Dave M.), grassy. — BRST° Rating: 3/5

5. Blanche aux bleuets, (John M.) 500ml, 7% | Frères Houblon, Trois-Rivières | Notes: indecisive | Comments: Meh. “I can’t believe it’s 7% — tastes like Absinthe.” (Corey), “Je trouve que ça goûte le parfum.” (Gen), diluted fruit juice / not enough crystals. “It doesn’t taste like beer.” (unknown), “Not sure if I’m disappointed or satisfied.” (unknown), kinda disappears. — BRST° Rating: 3/5

6. Rousse Forte aux Fruit, (Richard K.) 500ml, 7.5% | La Barberie, Quebec, QC | Comments: “Vinaigre de framboises.” [en pointant le nez] (Boris), “I don’t think I would buy this, but I like.” (Corey) — BRST° Rating: 2.5/5

7. Gamme Fruit – Dark Pale Ale, (Dave M.) 500ml, 8% | Brasseurs du monde, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC | Comments: “Smells like summer, tastes like Christmas.” (Chris S. & Corey), fruitcake, bitter, sweet, caramel, cherry, “It’s really good.” (unknown), toast, malty, berry complements, “Constant fluid flavour.” (Chris T.), “Complex and coherent.” (Gen). — BRST°Rating: 4/5

8. Brunante – Scotch Ale (Dubbel), (Chris T.) 500ml, 8% | Frères Houblon, Trois-Rivières | Notes: «Scotch is the best of all available ‘flavours’» (Chris T.) | Comments: Burnt caramel, a bit boozy at the end, nice. — BRST° Rating: 3/5

9. Peluso 30 (bière anniversaire) – Imperial Stout (w/sour cherries), (Corey P.) 750ml, 9% | Brasseurs Illimités, St-Eustache, Qc | Notes : Ratebeer profile | Comments: Forêt noir, “Kick in the face smell.” (Chris S.), notes of leather, “It’s like a beer filtered through a bicker’s assless chaps.” (group “effort”), heavy, dense, sweetness (berries & chocolate), yeasty, “Use it to thicken a sauce — reduce the shit our of it — it would be awesome.” (Chris T.) — BRST° Rating: 4/5

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… IN ORDER OF RATING

#1   Peluso 30 — 4/5
#1   Gamme Fruits — 4/5

#2   Scrimshaw Oyster Stout — 3.5/5

#3   Beau’s Bog Water (Gruit) — 3/5
#3   Brunante Scotch Ale — 3/5
#3   Coup de canon — 3/5
#3   Blanche au bleuets — 3/5

#4   Rousse forte aux fruits — 2.5/5

#5   La Marie framboise — 1.5/5

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BV6 – SESSIONABLE

Outcome: tie

• BLANCHE AUX BLEUTS — 3 votes
• BEAU’S BOG WATER (Gruit) — 3 votes 

Votes:

• John M : Blanche aux bleuets
• Corey P.: Beau’s Bog Water
• Chris S:  Oyster Stout
• Chris T: Oyster Stout (was not clear on paperwork)
• Geneviève: Blanche aux bleuets
• Boris: Beau’s Bog Water
• Richard: Blanche aux bleuets
• Dave: Beau’s Bog Water
• Simon: Brunante Scotch Ale

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BV6 – SURPRISE  

Outcome: tie

• GAMME FRUITS — 3 votes
• OYSTER STOUT — 3 votes

Votes:

• John M : Gamme Fruits
• Corey P.: Coup de canon
• Chris S:  Oyster Stout
• Chris T: Blanche aux bleuets
• Geneviève: Oyster Stout
• Boris: Gamme Fruit
• Richard: Oyster Stout
• Dave: Coup de canon
• Simon: Gamme Fruits

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BV6 – BLIND TEST

• John M : FAILED – Oyster Stout
• Corey P: FAILED – Rousse Forte aux Fruits
• Chris S:  SUCCEEDED – Peluso 30
• Chris T: FAILED – Brunante Scotch Ale
• Geneviève: SUCCEEDED – Blanche aux Bleuets
• Boris: SUCCEEDED – Gamme Fruits
• Richard: SUCCEEDED – Beau’s Bog Water (Gruit)
• Dave: SUCCEEDED – La Marie framboise
• Simon: SUCCEEDED – Coup de Canon

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BV6 – BEST IN SHOW 

Outcome: tie

• GAMME FRUITS — 4 votes
• PELUSO 30 — 4 votes

Votes:

• Chris Thorne: Gamme Fruit
• Simon: Peluso 30
• John M: Gamme Fruit
• Dave: Gamme Fruit
• Corey: Peluso 30
• Richard: Blanche aux bleuets
• Boris: Peluso 30
• Gen: Peluso 30
• Chris S.: Gamme Fruit

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BV6 – memorable quotes

Richard K.

“BV6 — my second longest relationship.” 

Geneviève L.

“BV6 — I feel like a bachelorette.”

Cheers! …and now to the Weizens!

Chris S. + Gen L.
Those Beerstitutioneers