Charlevoix Vache Folle Amarillo Double IPA

Brewed by Microbrasserie Charlevoix / Le Saint Pub
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Baie-St-Paul, Canada

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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An orange amber IPA with a thick lacing off white head. In aroma, pinhey hops with loads of berry notes, light caramel malt, nice. In mouth, a smooth DIPA with fruity and grapefruity esters, a bit of a thin body, but overall quite nice.

My Bottom Line:
Resinous and earthy hops develop plenty of bitterness, balanced out throughout by lean caramel malt and alcohol warmth.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A beautiful head of foam laces atop the translucent pale amber.
-The hoppy aroma is not nearly as aromatic as your typical American Double IPA.
-The long wooden resins found post-taste are almost bark-like.
-The big but soft bubbles and calculated dextrins make for a very drinkable Double IPA.
-On a Québécois scale, this is a very good Double IPA. On a world scale, this is still good, but rather run-of-the-mill.

Bottle.

Orange colour, solid looking, with some off white head. Orange resiny hop aromas. A tad astringent though the flavour overshadows this and allows for decent drinkability. More like a 1.5X IPA, not your normal mix of hops and malt, bulking up mouthfeel. Perhaps the recipe calls for this based on the hop.

Pours a hazy copper with a sustained white head. Smells of perfume, citrus, strong floral notes. Tastes of citrus, some honey, resiny touches, some sweet honeydew notes on the finish.

Bottle. Pours a hazy copper body with an off white head. Nice fruit toned body from the hops. Citrus, light honeydew notes. A modest caramel malt bill maybe not the freshest when served. Still probably one of the best DIPAs i’ve had from the North.

Bright golden color, small white head, medium lacing. Aroma of pine cones and cedar. Taste is more subtle than the Simcoe, but just as clean and bright. Tasty.

Bottle. Pours a hazed amber with a nice sticky head. Aroma is ok citrusy hops, catty, pinetree, grapefruit, mineral, mango, toast, and light caramel. Flavor is toffee, caramel, med sweetness, ok medium fresh citrusy hops, light tropical notes, some grass, then med bitterness. Ok- better than the other single hop versions which seemed more stale and cheesy than this one.

Courtesy of after4ever. Thanks Tom. Pours clear copper with loose white head. The aroma is mild with sweet citrus candy and some modest spiciness. The taste is similar with pretty thick mildly aged malts blending into a pleasing citrus hop flavor of orange juice mixed with grapefruit juice and a touch of pine and spicy hop bitterness. Tasty stuff.

Backlog - May 13, 2010. 500ml bottle shared by blankboy with me and garthicus. Clear refractive amber with a long-lasting frothy beige head. Slightly sweet and very juicy aroma balanced by dry floral and mild citrus zest bitterness - no alcohol presence at all for 9% I LOVED the taste - pungent, bitter, catty - just enough sweet juicy malt to keep it in check, the alcohol comes through in the taste, but this mix of acidic cattiness, light sweet malt and moderate booziness pushes all my buttons. Average body, a bit sticky on the palate, light but lively carbonation, and a nice long pungent bitter linger - lovely hop presence, yay for Canadian brewers discovering hopssssezz!!

Tap at Saint-Bock. Clear golden copper body with a small off-white head. Somewhat oily body. Alcohol is very much present in this one. You can feel it in the mouth but even more so in the after-taste. Long warming/burning sensation in the throat. Loses a few points because of that. The malt profile has this single-malt kind of character to it. Added to the strong alcohol presence, it feels like a hard-liquor was added to the beer. Fruity and caramel flavours take the backseat here. The saving grace are the hops. Large amount of resinous foresty hops with a flavour of pine-tree and tree bark. Assertive bitterness, that thing is as bitter as bitter as an assembly of former Enron employees. Good but I much prefer Charlevoix’s previous IIPA (Simcoe Double IPA).