À l’Abri de la Tempête Palabre du Tonic du Charlatan

Brewed by À l’Abri de la Tempête
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
L’Étang du Nord, Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Canada

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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Bière blonde d’apparence trouble, ayant de multiple sédiments en suspens, surmontée d’une généreuse mousse durable qui s’agrippe aux parois du verre. Le nez est comblé par toute une palette d’odeurs: des fleurs sauvages estivales, des fruits tropicaux, d’herbes salines, de conifères, de houblons acidulés, de bouquet garnis. Parfois même, des effluves d’assouplisseur parviennent aux narines. En bouche, ça bouge beaucoup. Un goût de pin, d’agrumes, de fleurs, d’épices: de sarriette, d’herbes fraîches, de camomille, d’eucalyptus et de houblon. L’alcool est quand à lui assez discret. Tout ce mélange d’odeur et de saveur nous laisse perplexe, même si c’est équilibré et l’arrière-goût est étrange. C’est digne d’un tableau de Jackson Pollock. Brassin d’octobre 2011 (200-291211/140312)

Bottle. Powerful aroma. Lots of spices I can’t put my finger on but mostly dominated by ginger. I also get white flowers, honey and hops. Alcohol is represented by menthol. Weird mix that turns out good. Flavor is less interesting. there is sweet candied malts. Citrusy hops are certainly present but unfortunately buried by the malts. Rich and somewhat sticky palate, finishes with an enjoyable alcohol burn. Interesting experience, my least favourite of the Palabre series.

Pours a cloudy, peachy, yellow color with a medium white head. The aroma is interesting, there’s herbs, spices, lavander and resinous hops. The flavor has resinous hops, spices, herbs and alcohol warmth. The body is light with an oily texture and moderate carbonation. This is definitely interesting, but kind of strange.

pours slightly hazy pale yellow with a decent white head, little retention/lacing. aroma is fruity pineyness, peppery, boozy, drugs, salted malts (distinctive AL’ADLT malts). earthy, piney. medium to long finish, soft carbonation, medium body. original and good.

UPDATED: FEB 13, 2012 Bouteille de 341ml. Cadeau de Patrick. Bière dorée foncée trouble avec une mousse blanche cassée. Le nez est de céréale, épices (une déclinaison de lavande, thym, romarin...un peu comme Simon et Garfunkel, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme). Une belle concoction. La bouche est tout aussi impressionnante avec de l’alcool, des épices, une tonne d’épice et une belle amertume. La finale est chaleureuse comme l’hiver ! Brassin octobre 2011.

Une robe orangée sur laquelle flotte un col mousseux épais et résistant. Une dentelle qui décore le verre. Un nez aromatisé à la lavande et au gingembre confit avec des herbes qui sont touchées par l’air salin des Îles. Des fruits tropicaux qui ne cherchent qu’à exploser. Des parfums surprenants et bienvenus. Des saveurs plutôt rudes qui combinent du gingembre et des extraits concentrés de lavande avec des houblons mentholés, poivrés et résineux. Une présence vigoureuse de l’alcool. Un corps qui est fort avec une faible effervescence et une texture huileuse. Une finale parfumée, chaude et amère, qui s’accroche pour de longs moments. Une bière étonnante mais qui reste difficile à boire.

My Bottom Line :
Citrusy thyme, rosemary, lavender, heather (multifarious herbs and flowers, in other words) ride this Gruit’s alcohol warmth until they are levelled out by bitter hop resins.

Further Personal Perceptions :
-A slice of foam covers the cloudy pale amber.
-Banana undertones are found.
-The soft effervescence, alcohol and healthy residual sugars build a creamy mouthfeel.
-This may not be as refined as their Corne de Brume, Bot’Aouelle, or Corps Mort, but this is still beautifully aromatic and satisfying.
-Alcohol heat and bitter herbs aren’t too harmonious to me.
-Malt flavors are muddled, especially when compared to the 3 aforementioned AATEmpête strong brews.

Bottle.

This is an IPA flavoured with gruit not hops. Gruit was a herbal mixture that was widely used as a beer flavouring agent before hops became the standard beer flavouring ingredient. I was excited to try this beer since it is the first gruit beer I have tried. The beer has a very high alcohol content and unfortunately there is little information on the bottle or brewery’s website about the style of brewing other than that it is gruit flavoured. Instead there is an attempt to be cute bla bla bla marketing spiel on the bottle referring to the beer’s name as a charlatan’s tonic. Unfortunate, as a description of how the beer was made would have been a lot more interesting. To the beer itself, the first thing that one notices is that instead of the sharp, invigorating smell of hops, there is a very pleasant sweet smell from the gruit herbs. The gruit has a very strong and intense taste that is both medicinal and reminds one of herb liquor like Jagermeister. That might not sound completely pleasant but the overall taste is actually pretty pleasing. It also masks completely the strong alcohol content, I don’t think I have ever had a beer above 9% alcohol in which the high alcohol content was so undiscernable. All in all a very interesting and decent beer. I don’t think gruit is ever going to win its place back against hops and I would not want to drink several of these beers at one time. However, as an occasional niche beer gruit seems to have a place.

bottle from Grand-Duc A: somehow piney / citrusy with almost perfumy nose. It’s powerfull. App: light clear with minimal head. T/P : light body finish is medium bitter. O : Nice, I was a bit sceptical about that one but i’m really impressed. You don’t get any hotness from the alcohol and it’s complex loaded with different level of aroma.

#1030 bottle; Nose is mediumheavy elderflower, medium hay, urinal cakes, citrus, feel Is watery, carb Is medium, taste Is mint, weak barn yard, alcohol kick, bittersour hops finish