Brasseurs du Monde Houblonnière

Brewed by Brasseurs du Monde / Le Picoleur
Style: American Pale Ale
Saint-Hyacinthe, Canada

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Very complex hoppy aromas, very citrus; notes of lemon, grapefruit, orange, lime, ginger. We also find pine accents and a very slight caramel. Lightly cloudy golden color with very creamy head, good lacing and long lasting. Flavors are hoppy all over with accents of citrus, orange, grass and other ones found in aromas.Caramel is sober with a slight roasted accent. Hops are sharp and long lasting in mouth. Comme la description sur la bouteille l’indique, le malt et l’alcool ont été gardés sous controle afin de laisser libre cours à l’expression du houblon. Un nez très relevé, un visuel parfait et un festival de houblon; voila les trois caractéristiques de cette pale ale américaine pour mieux la définir.

My Bottom Line :
Earthy, coniferous hoppiness possesses strange tree bark and Pine Sol-like aromatics, a flavor display leading to portentous bitterness, alleviated somewhat by a comfortable mouthfeel.

Further Personal Perceptions :
-A sheet of foam lasts atop the beautiful clear pale amber (clear before the yeast pour, of course).
-Hops also contribute floral qualities. This is not balanced at all, but that isn’t the point either.
-The hop character is overly coniferous; either the hop selection or the hop quality is a tad deficient for this type of brew, imho.
-Drinkability is reduced by the earthy, coniferous hop character. More citrus brightness and smoothness would have helped.
-Mouthfeel is really seducing, as is the appearance.

Bottle.

500 ml bottle. Pours a foggy golden orange with a long-lasting white head. Tastes like cereals, with a subtle, well-controlled bitterness, reminiscent of flowers and citrus. Medium to full bodied, resinous mouthfeel. Very good pale ale.

Bottle from local Iga. A: citrusy at first then your hit by some resinous/ piny notes. App: clear blond with small white head. T/p: light body with long bitter finish. Soft carbonation. O: good misses a bit of fruity flavors for my taste. I hope they rebrew it.

Medium golden color. Nice persistant foam. Complex hops aromas, resin, grass, citrus. Not much place for malt. Light sweet taste, medium bitter. I feel a bit of deception seeing that great hop aroma complexity and not much in taste. Long bitter finish. Great but not what I expected for taste.

Blonde with a fizzy white head. Intense hoppy aromas of citrus. Light bodied, dry, intense bitterness, with an acidic finishes that would have been quite pleasant in a saison! Feels like a pale ale fermented with a saison yeast. Nice thirst quenching beer.

[4507-20120609] Cask. Light nutmeg spiced grainy citrus aroma. Hazy, orange brown body with no head. Tangy bitter citrus bite flavour up front with a lasting spiced aftertaste. Medium body. Interesting. (7/3/6+/3-/14) 3.3
(Cask Days @ Benelux, Montreal, QC)

2012-06-09. Hazy dark orange body, headless. 3+ Sharp yeasty hop aroma, almost saison like is a bit strange. 7+ Flavour is similarly sharp, yeasty bitterness with whispers of citrus seed and tropical fruit. Bitterness grows as the glass goes on. 7+ Average plus palate is good for a cask but is nearly flat. Decent, but it does not really scream IPA to me. I am curious if this is what it is normally like or if maybe this cask is not representative of it. #7, Tasted Blind at Benelux Cask Days Event, Montreal

on tap at brewpub. cloudy golden, nicewhite head, some lacing. dry grassy hops, pellets, loads, tons of lemony esters, light vanilla, light malts. average to soft carbonation, light body - thin, relatively short finish.

Well, our brewers seem to have embarked on the hop frenzy train these past few weeks with sutff like Double Bonheur and Houblonnière. I can’t complain. This Houblonnière, a name I surely enjoy, shows up pale and golden with a fully hazy, almost opaque body topped by a generous, very dense white foam of tightly attached bubbles. It takes the straightforward American hops route that Québec’s bottled beer world was introduced to by Dunham Pale Ale Américaine not so long a time ago. A bold dry-hopping effort which throws flowery, very coniferous notes that feel both sprucey and soapy, an impression that is highlighted further in mouth as the bitterness lingers on together with a noticeable dish soap note. The bitterness is otherwise not all that intense, the beer clearly focusing on hop aromas, although bitter flavours are here heavily amplified by the malts voluntarily timid character, merely supporting the hop salad. If the malts maintain a very low profile, the yeast is not quite as neutral, nourishing the beer with a doughiness that detracts from the hops and beefs up the palate as unfiltered as it is. Is it perhaps that a not insignificant amount of wheat is used or I’m just feeling like the palate is a bit heavy, a bit proteinic for a hop-forward pale ale? All in all, a great effort to showcase the power of dry-hopping, but the soapy off-notes greatly remove from the enjoyment and the lack of something to attach ourselves to, a crispiness of the palate as an example, which would greatly increase our desire to come back quickly between the sips, is not quite there. And my, will this be bad a few months from now? I hope they sell out quickly.