Au Maître Brasseur Lysée Dorée

Labeled "La Distincte", bottle courtesy of Hogtownharry, thanks buddy! This golden/blond ale pours decidedly deep and hazy copper with brown hues, and topped with a slightly off white foam. The nose is awash with fruit (apple, white plum), straw, and a strange yeasty, grainy aroma that really dominates all else. The flavour profile is quite fruit forward, and reminds me of juice. Sweet white plum and white grapes with doses of granny smith apple. This beer is also quite yeasty and earthy and almost seems gritty due to the yeast. Pretty bland and watery, no real hop profile, just a sweet fruity beverage with alcohol. Mixed reviews leave me to believe that there might be consistency issues here? In any event, I am glad I got to try it. My experience with Quebec micros is limited. Thanks Harry!

Bottle - 341ml. Dark gold body with good white foamy aroma. Decent malty hoppy aroma with flowery and grainy hints. Taste is dominated by sharp English hops flavors. Ends with a good bitter finish. Good everyday Ale.

Bottle. Labeled ’Au Maître Brasseur La Distincte’. Pours a hazy orange-copper with lots of tiny floaties and an average size diminishing off-white head. Decent lacing. Aroma: Whoa, that’s surprisingly sugary sweet considering it says Pale Ale on the bottle, There’s also fruit and yeast but I’m getting no hops or malt -- weird. Flavour’s also sweet and fruity along with some Quebec yeast (yes, Quebec yeast, you’ll know if you’ve tasted many Quebec beers) and light hops. Very mild bitter finish. Average to medium bodied. It’s O.K. I guess but it’s one hell of a weird version of a Pale Ale.

Very sweet and fruit aroma is almost reminiscent of cream soda. Hazy, deep golden coloured body is topped by a generous, large bubbled, white head that recedes to a thin and lasting cover with some lacing. Sweet, soapy and floral flavours are dominant. Bitterness lingers but the flavours don’t seem to come together very well. Very dry in texture. Medium body with prickly carbonation. Tulip glass. Cellar temperature. Bottle (Le Gobelet, Jan-08).

Bottle: Poured a murky amber color ale with a small foamy head with minimal retention. Aroma of unrefined grain is not very tempting. Taste is also dominated by this unrefined grain taste with a dry finish. Full body with minimal carbonation. Wow, this is quite bad and definitely not something that I would drink very often and even less for a session.

Hazy amber hue, with a creamy beige head, yeasty, fruity nose, with a bubblegum grape fruitiness, with some toasty malts, and a hint of brown sugar sweetness in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a toasty grainy character, a faint yeasty bubblegum accent, with a subtle peaish, cooked vegetables, a floral hop resinuous, leaing towards a malty, grainy, hop bittering finish.

In short: A disastrous attempt at a Pale Ale. Unfortunately more bad than boring.
How: Bottle 341ml, very fresh (within a few weeks of its release). Also had the La Lysée Ambrée and I’m willing to bet they are the same beer with a different label.
The look: Cloudy dirty orange body with a short lived white head
In long: That awful aroma again that I come across one in while in some PA/IPA. Like the rotten smell coming from a dishcloth that you’ve been using for too long without washing. Taste continues in the same direction. Wet cake, watery caramel, crushed rotten citrus fruits, sweat and wet socks, ink (!!!), old juice that’s been out of the fridge for days, leather. Sparse carbonation. Finish is rather bitter but equally rotten and papery. Not only is it Barberie-ish but it is bad Barberie-ish. Good name, it’s distinct alright, good thing it is not the norm.

On tap at the brewery. Light amber color with small white head. A little fruit touch, malt, kinda dry beer. Not bad for the style, but they got better.