Beer Ye! Beer Ye!

On May 6th, Beerstitutioneers from all over the city gathered for our 8th edition. Now having quite a bit of experience in beer drinking, and the Habs being in full playoff mode, it was decided that we should go for a sessionnable theme, Pale Ales and Bitter.

The Pale Ale style originates from the UK (around 1642) with the first ales brewed using malt roasted with coke instead of charcoal. Coke has the advantage of creating heat with less smoke than charcoal, therefore making a smoother and `lighter` than Porters and Stout.

The term Bitter was first used in the 1800’s to describe the beer, even it knows a very malted and low IBU beer, was far more bitter than the brown ales sold back in the days (Newcastle styled-beers).

One of the main problem with the beer back in the days was that it had rough time withstanding long trips across the oceans to America and India but George Hogeson from London’s Bow Brewery found a way to preserve the beer for those long voyages by adding a lot more hops and much higher alcohol content; this led to the creation of the infamous IPA (see Beerstitution vol. 1).

We also included the UK’s pale ale`s cousin in our tasting, the American Pale Ale, a similar beer brewed usually with a lot more hops (especially the very bitter Cascade hops).

Enough historical facts, now to the tasting.

Seiglerie Bitter. Les Brasseurs du Monde, St-Hyacinthe.: Phil. B
A great starter for this evening, with a nice balanced flavor a hints of spices coming from the Rye used in this beer.
BRST° Rating: 3.5/5

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Fuller’s London Pride, Fuller. Smith & Turner, UK.: Phil T.

This was definitely a different one from all we had that evening. Right after pouring the first few glasses, it was noted this beer had more of a grandpa smell. The taste unfortunately matched the smell and was not a favorite among the group. That thing tasted more like an old Werther’s original stuck in your grandpa’s pocket than beer.
BRST° Rating: 2/5

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American Jesus Pale Ale, Hopera, Jonquiere: Corey P.

With this kind of name we had high expectation for this Pale Ale. It was a very sessionable one, but had a slightly too clean kinda like blueballs for your mouth. It was good but lacked a little extra something-something at the end.
BRST° Rating: 3/5

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Pale Ale Austraméricaine, Pit Caribou, Gaspé: Daniel W.

Again a great product from the brewers of Pit Caribou. A mix of Australian and American hops gave this one a nice bitter taste with a little ‘je-ne-sais-quoi’ toward the end that made it a very crisp beer.
BRST° Rating: 3.5/5

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Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale, Beau’s Brewery, Vankleek Hill, Ont.: Chris S.

A collaboration between Ontario’s Beauchemin family and Kissmeyer from Denmark led this great brew. The beer was brewed with maple syrup but barely tasted, we noted more of a pine sol taste but in a good way. It was a very clean like fancy furniture polish.
BRST° Rating: 4/5

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Dale Pale Ale, Oskar Blues, Brevard, North Carolina: Genevieve L.

Oh that beautiful can! This was a special one with a packaging similar to PBR, none of us expecting much from this Pale Ale and boy we were wrong. This was most probably what we all idea in mind when we were thinking Pale Ale. A balanced beer, not too hoppy, nor malted, just very sessionnable, a great choice for BBQ’s in the Park.
BRST° Rating: 3.5/5

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Draconic Transylvanian Pale Ale, Kruhnen, Blainville: Dave M.

Our final beer was the only high ABV of the evening. A strong 9% gave it quite a special soapy taste very similar to Thrills gum. This one left a very long but not so bitter aftertaste. Like Gen mentionned this one had a real deep throat.
BRST° Rating: 3/5

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BLINDTASTE

It was decided that for the blindtaste test, everyone would get a guess without looking and a second chance with eyes open.

Beerstitutioneer | Blind guess | 2nd guess | Actual

• Phil B. | n/a | Hopera | Hopera
• Daniel W. | Pit Caribou | Kissmeyer | Kissmeyer
• Gen | Seiglerie | n/a | Seiglerie
• Chris | Fullers | n/a | Fullers
• Phil T. | Hopera | Kissmeyer | Dale’s
• Dave | Seiglerie | Khruenen | Pit Caribou
• Corey | Seiglerie | Pit Caribou | Dale’s

FAVOSESHPRISE

Beerstitutioneer | Favourite | Surprise | Session

• Chris | Kissmeyer | Dale’s | Seiglerie
• Gen | Kissmeyer | Seiglerie | American Jesus
• Corey | Kissmeyer | Khruenen | American Jesus
• Dave | Pit Caribou | Dale’s | Kissmeyer
• Phil B. | Kissmeyer | Dale’s | American Jesus
• Daniel | Kissmeyer | Fuller’s (bad) | Kissmeyer
• Phil T. | Kissmeyer | Dale’s | Fuller’s
• WINNER | KISSMEYER | DALE’S | AMERICAN JESUS

So thanks again everyone for showing up to this great edition of Beerstitution, and i would like to remind everyone that Les Trois Mousquetaires is banned forever from BV just in case anyone forgot.

Phil T.
That guy from Beerstitution