Les Frères Houblon Réserve

Brewed by Les Frères Houblon Microbrasserie
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Trois-Rivieres, Canada

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Clear orange colour. Hoppy aroma but it has a real yeasty or dough like quality and is muted. this is made in a balanced style showing some malts as well as hops making this brew quite refreshing, although not a hop bomb like others of this style.

500 ml bottle. Pours a foggy orange amber with a resilient white head. Smells herbal, earthy, dry and citrusy. Taste is earth, cereals, caramel, red fruits, biscuits and a tad bit of wood. Light bitter finish, floral, somewhat citrusy. Body is average. Best ale I’ve had from Les Frères Houblon.

Bière de couleur ambrée et opaque, présentant un col léger, beige. De bonnes effluves de pamplemousse blanc pénètrent directement aux narines, accompagnées d’odeurs de levure, de houblons et d’herbes. En bouche, des saveurs de conifères, d’agrumes et d’épices créent un bel agencement, lui attribuant une belle et douce amertume. (97-141011)

Bouteille 500 ml. 7.3%. Couleur ambrée, mousse blanche-beige crémeuse. Nez de houblon, malt et levure. En bouche, houblon, malt, un peu de caramel. Finale amère mais pas trop. Correct...dans le cas des Frères Houblon c’est bon ! Mais il y a toujours un petit goût....

Bière ambrée, voilée et coiffée d’un col velouté et mousseux laissant une belle dentelle au verre. De doux arômes de caramel et de conifères. Légèrement amère, mais très acide. De corps moyen, l’effervescence est vive au début, mais peu durable. Elle se termine sur des arômes agréables, mais aussi sur une astringence non négligeable.

Aroma: Earthy, bready, light citricy (lemon), oxidized hops? Appear: Golden with a light (dry hop?) haze and a small white head Flavor: Full bready background and sweetness behind an earthy hopped flavor. Light paper oxidation and old hop flavors Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation and not a dry enough finish for an IPA Overall this beer could use less use of crystal or more kilned malts so it could fully ferment out. While not sugar sweet is too malty for my palate in an IPA. Should be dry and feature hops not the malt. The bottle I had was probably old and oxidized.

I do not agree with some of the really low ratings for this though it is possible other batches were poorer. Nevertheless seeing that it had 4 types of hops and an IBU of 60 I was expecting something more bitter. However, nothing on the bottle says it is an IPA so probably some were expecting something more bitter and false expectations can often cause too low marks. Also I have to agree with other reviewers that there is nothing justifying the Reserve label on the beer. This beer is more of a strong beer than an IPA and one can really taste the alcoholic strength. The alcohol taste seems to kill any hops bitterness and the overwhelming taste is of malt and alcohol. The taste is not too bad but not very complex or interesting, especially given the promises of bitterness and reserve quality on the bottle. Drinkable strong beer but not that interesting.

Bottle 500 ml, June 4th 2011. Not my style of IPA, rough bitterness and bad tastes, Probably one of the less appreciated IPA that i tasted, bad experience. Rating # 24

On sent l’alcool, légèrement l’agrume et la levure. Beau collet et léger dépôt, clair mais légèrement trouble. Au goût, pas grand chose excepté une amertume ni florale, ni fruité assez persistante...très ordinaire.