Charlevoix Saison des Grands Jardins

Formerly brewed at Microbrasserie Charlevoix / Le Saint Pub
Style: Saison
Baie-St-Paul, Canada

Serve in Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

On tap, a glass and a half at Vice Versa. Pours hazy pale amber with lots of lacings. Unfortunately, all the head was gone by the time the glass found its way to me. Second sample had a nicer, however small, head. Just by shaking it a bit though, you can see a nice foam appearing. I think It would have a nice head if poured correctly. Pretty extensive lacing throughout all the glass until the end. Aroma is saison yeast, some hints of banana. Some hops (more herbal/spicy than grapefruit to me). Big hints of mango. Very complex and fresh aroma. Taste is quite bitter all along. Finish is quite bitter and dry. Some hops, banana and mango like the aroma. Some grain also. It was an awesome saison with a lot of character and complexity. It was very refreshing and very drinkable. A big success that I hope to taste again ! À ta santé Martin !

Glass, 12-ounce, at Les Brasseurs du Temps; eye: golden with a caramel hue, hazy, light effervescence, tiny ring of tan head; nose: floral hops, perfumy, light spices, refreshing; mouth: floral hops, perfumy, light spices, refreshing, finale in floral hops with perfumy presence, medium body, average carbonation, lightly bitter; overall: quite good FRANÇAIS Verre, 12 onces, bue chez Les Brasseurs du Temps; œil : dorée avec une teinte caramel, voilée, légère effervescence, petit anneau de mousse fauve; nez : houblon floral, parfum, léger épices, rafraîchissant; bouche : houblon floral, parfum, léger épices, rafraîchissant, finale en houblon floral avec présence parfumée, corps moyen, carbonatation moyenne, légèrement amère; en résumé : bien bon

on tap. pale cloudy golden with a 2-finger white head. fresh hops, apples, pears, orange, ginger, cloves, hint of sweetness from the malts, other yeasty spices. so refreshing. lively carbonation, medium body. MdC has done another excellent brew.

The pour reveals a cloudy, yellowish color with a medium white head. Solid aroma of flowers, yeast and fruits. Very good flavor of flowers, yeast and fruits with some hops bitterness, it’s also very dry. The body is light with a creamy texture and medium carbonation. Very good, I hope they brew it again!

On tap at Vices et Versa. Hazy gold color with an off white head. The aroma is very fruity mostly citrus with a ggod balance of hops. The taste also of fruits of the citrus kind,hops and just enough malt. The taste in your mouth is refreshing and bitter. The aftertaste is very pleasant.

On tap at the Brouhaha, cloudy yellow gold hue , with a white head, yeasty, nice flower petal, spicy nose of coriander, lavender, with some grassy, leafy hoppiness, and some nice citrusy, grapefruit, apricot, mango, banana esters, with a faint honeyed pale malt note in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a yeasty, fruity, pineapple, litchi, flowery lavender character with a lemony, limey hop accent, some honeyish pale malt notes, leading towards a fruity, pineapple, hoppy dry bittering finish.

On tap at Brouehaha. WOW ! What a great beer. Usually i am not a big fan of Hybrid beers but the result is solid. Super nice floral,grassy nose.Good half inch head that stays and laces the glass.Very well balanced taste,the hops a very present but are not crushing the fruitiness and yeast flavor that is very important in a Saison. Well done,makes me want to bring one of my recipes to the brewer and see what my stuff tastes like on a bigger scale.

As with most events involving Dany, it is a complicated story. I don’t mean to dicredit anyone as this is dirty territory and the average ratebeerian knows very well how to spot a liar in a crowd: he’s consistently the one with the long hair, the huge cellar and the uncohesive almost flat belly. Anyway, let me tell you how it really happened because clearly, the previous rater missed a turn and lost his memory while hitting a telephone post or something. The bottom line is that you should not trust a man who drove from Chicago to Montreal with no juice on his brakes. So Martin was peacefully doing his daily walk from Montreal to Baie-St-Paul with a plan on his mind. Being a ratebeerian, he had always had the secret desire to see his name under the description of a top 50 beer at ratebeer.com. He cleverly designed the plan of hijacking Charlevoix brewery’s equipment to brew an absolutely massive imperial stout which would clock in at 99% ABV and set your mouth on fire. You would then slowly burn and your last memory would be that of a particularly "hot" beer that does not forgive and does not forget. Clearly, after a few helpless victims would be seduced, this would be the stuff of legend. Simple enough? Perhaps, but not a very good story without a villain. Now here comes the supervillain. A vile mind-reading manipulator saw Martin walking by the road. He, hating pedestrians, immediately proceeded to the side of the road, hitting Martin straight on the chest. Martin being an artist and all of course has his brains in his heart and therefore lost memory. His assailant immediately proceeded to switch his memories, including Martin’s glorious imperial stout plan. He replaced it with the ridiculous idea of brewing a clean lager of a weak pale colour, insisted on it having a large white foam (thus ensuring the maximization of the drinker’s insatisfaction by minimizing the quantity of beer he gets). The harm was done. Fortunately, when the devil left, he forgot, as devils usually do, the angels at Charlevoix. They promptly took on a helpless Martin upon his arrival and led him to a quick recovery. Martin had forgotten his beer recipe, but the great joy of being in bucolic Charlevoix inspired him an ale of celebration: A perfumey and proud golden Belgian ale with fiery hop aromas, enough residual sugars for the body to feel round, briscuity and honeyed and a sharp, almost surprisingly so, flowery, fruity, herbal/leafy almost mineral bitterness. It was great, but not completely to Martin’s taste. Such is the way of life, you can have the best smell in the world, but come across the wrong (or right?) pig and his perfume will always overcome yours.

In short: A highly floral blonde Saison-ish brew. Tasty, nourishing and refreshing. Very nice brew.
How: Tap at Vices & Versa
The look: Very cloudy blonde body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: So here we are, a beer that is a collaboration between Charlevoix’s brewer and ratebeer’s regional admin MartinT, recipe by MartinT. I think the dude was planning to bring his malt extract syrup but because of his revoked licence and the Denver boot on his car (again) he hitchhiked a ride to Charlevoix and brewed all grain on premises. This turned out nice because I enjoyed the dry resulting straight-from-the-countryfield fresh hay/cereals malt character of the brew. Supposedly he was planning to use dry powder yeast but his powder yeast bags got mixed up with some other bags and he sniffed his yeast by mistake the day before. Lucky for us he instead used Charlevoix Belgian yeast which developed a lot of nice array of fruity esters including grapefruits, bananas, oranges and more. Being notoriously cheap he certainly wanted to use just very little hops but he tripped (most likely drunk, again) and dropped a whole lot of floral hops in the tank. Turned out great as I really enjoyed the highly floral character of the beer. Smells and drinks like a flower bouquet. The mild resinous bitterness is hidden by the smooth flower juice flavour. It is said that he wanted to make a syrupy sweet ale but he was either sleeping on the job or watching midget porn (both are very likely) and the beer ended-up appropriately attenuated with only a light sugary honey sweetness to balance the generous hopping. Not quite dry enough for me, but then again rarely is a beer dry enough for me. By all accounts he was shooting for a dark ale but the dude is colorblind (painfully obvious when you see how he dresses) and the beer turned out a highly drinkable blonde ale. All and all this may not be the big syrupy scotch ale that he was hoping for but to me this is a really nice brew. I’m sure he just got lucky and I dare him to try again.

Un gros bravo à tous ceux impliqués de près ou de loin dans cette bière magnifiquement faite. Houblon, alcool timide, sèche en bouche, fruité-florale au nez. "We want bottles clap clap clap, we want bottles clap clap..."

En fût. Verre de 12 oz dégusté chez Vices & Versa (Montréal, QC). Arôme: Odeur de zestes d’oranges, d’herbes et de fleurs. Apparence: La couleur est blonde légèrement voilée. Présence d’un moyen col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Explosion de saveur en bouche: Présence de zestes d’oranges, de mangue et d’herbes avec une pointe de levure. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement minérale. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Présence de zestes d’orange en arrière goût. (Rating #2562)