Les Frères Houblon Blanche aux Bleuets

Brewed by Les Frères Houblon Microbrasserie
Style: Fruit Beer
Trois-Rivieres, Canada

Bottle: Poured a light blue color ale with a medium foamy head with OK retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of unsweetened blueberry is mix with weird grainy malt. Taste is also a mix between some actual blueberries with note of unrefined grainy malt which doesn’t really fit well with the style. Body is fuller then would I have expected with good carbonation and no signs of alcohol. Not very good overall but I am glad they thought about using actual blueberry.

Pours the color of white peach, hazy orange in the glass, light white head. Distinctive aroma of blueberries, water. On first sip, initial kick of blueberry flavored alcohol. Not sure if this bottle isn’t in great condition, but since I would hope a fruit beer to be lighter, it seems somewhat off for being so strong. Not really bad, but sort of mediocre. Kind of like the crappy fancy shmancy fruit beer your local pub puts out all the time next to the American wheat and amber ale. The first miss from September’s Canadian haul.

A hazy ruby amber ale with a thin light pinkish white head. A rather mineral aroma of herbs, malt, light blueberries, and some white peppercorn notes. In mouth, a lightly sweet blueberry taste over this interesting white pepper notes, mineral finish with lingering pepper finale. Not bad but cloying in the end. Bottle from Jovi, 3.99, bought Oct. 19 2009.

Bouteille 500ml. De couleur ambrée-rosée et voilée. Nez de fruits aux faibles notes lactiques (bleuets sucrés), léger de levures avec des notes herbeuses, de blé et d’épices (poivre très doux). Mince en bouche avec un pétillement moyen et une texture minérale avec de petites notes aqueuses et huileuses. Goût de levures fruitées aux petites notes lactiques (bleuets naturels très peu sucrés et moût de bleuets) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un léger goût de céréales avec des notes de blé asséchant puis en finale l’on retrouve un goût herbeux (herbes mouillées) accompagné de traces métalliques et de légumes bouillis. Post-goût moyen et un peu asséchant, légèrement herbeux avec des petites notes aigres de fruits (moût de bleuets) ainsi que des traces de blé.

500 ml bottle from Marche Jovi, served cold in a tulip glass.

App.: Cloudy pinkish amber with a fairly, rose-coloured head. Aroma: Odd and idiosyncratic, not what I was expecting; there is some fruit but mainly there is light funk and a pervasive...chicken soup odour – celery, savoury broth, vegetables, somewhat grassy and peppery/spicy. Palate: Medium+ body, moderate effervescence. Flav.: A bit better, less strange than the nose; spicy, peppery blueberries, some lighter grass and wet hay, still hints of the chicken soup, though much subdued; lightly sweet with virtually no bitterness and a little lingering blueberry and toast.

I’m not sure what to make of this! I might try a second bottle sometime. Until then, failing grade.

bouteille brune de 500ml. bière de couleur rosée, nez de bière blanche. bouche quelque peu acidulé, léger goût de bleuet fermenté. agréable.