La brasserie À l'abri de la tempête from les Îles de la Madeleine has to be one of my favourite breweries in all of Quebec.. in fact: in the world. I absolutely love everything I've tried by them. I had their La Belle Saison is easily one of the best summer time saisons I've had, and their Corps Mort Barley Wine may contain traces of herring, which is.. yuck! But it's one of the few barley wines out there that can honestly compete with Half Pints' Burly Wine.
Today, it's a dual Palabre review kind of day. First off:
Palalbre XXX Impériale IPA.
Mon ami Alain knew I was a big fan of À l'abri de la tempête that he made me aware of the Palabre line of beers by the brewery. I didn't find out much information about them, but I knew I had to try them!
Appearance: Palabre XXX Impériale IPA pours a thick honey-orange, a good amount of creamy beige head that just sticks to the side of the glass. It looks like I'm about to drink 355mL of syrup.. who knows?!
Aroma: First thing that came out was a rich bitter hoppiness that reminds me of what Yakima, WA must smell like in the summer time. A great deal of pine, woodiness and a faux lemon aroma that reminds me of baby wipes. A very sweet syrupy background to it, very sweet and tart - reminiscent of raisins and prunes. Incredibly parfumic, bitter and sweet.
Taste: I can't believe this is damned 14.5% ABV! It honestly doesn't taste like it's more than 8-10%! In fact, this is the second strongest beer (ABV) I've ever had in my life. With the strongest being Sam Adams' Utopias. Incredibly sweet and syrupy with a great deal of surprisingly fresh hoppy background to it. Bitter cascade & other hops that almost taste like they were grown right on l'île next to the brewery. Incredibly syrupy...The mouthfeel leaves a syrupy aftertaste to it. As it warms up, the booze starts to burn the tongue and you quickly start to feel warmth throughout the body from the alcohol.
Overall Thoughts: Is it possible for an IIPA/DIPA to be too strong to be an IIPA/DIPA? Who knows. At $8/bottle, I thought this was expensive, but I didn't know it was damned 14.5%! It had a great combination of nice bitter West Coast hoppiness and a sweet and syrupy desserty taste to it to give it an overwhelming yummy complex.... somehow almost a Barley Wine taste to it.
Also, I'm not a certified beer judge in any sense - I review the beers according to how I find it to taste and review it accordingly. Even if it's not to style, I don't ding marks off it in my personal blog reviews - thats why I don't do a rating - you can find my ratings in the Brandon Sun!
From the bottle: Sex, hops & rock n roll!
Palabre Corne de Glace
I've been told À l'abri de la tempête's Palabre corne de glace is based off the popular Corne de Brume Scotch Ale - which is rated one of the top Scotch Ales on the planet! Corne de Glace is an ice Scotch Ale take on the Corne de Brume, to condense it into a stronger, sweeter and more over the top beer. According to Untappd, I haven't tried Corne de Brume yet, though I know I have a few bottles
of it lying around.
Appearance: Corne de glace pours a dark nutty brown ale and opaque. A nice amount of creamy beige on head.
Aroma: Cinnamon! Gingerbread, scotchy scotch scotch! It's a very wintery beer for the most part. There's also a bit of nuttiness in the background. Also a bit of an earthiness to it while it warms up. Also notes of dark fruits like raisins popping up here and there.
Taste: Rich taste of cinnamon, molasses and a rich earthiness that reminds me of a fine Scotch. It's quite bitter and leaves a buzzing bitter aftertaste. While it's quite a syrupy beer, it's not as syrupy as I expected - also not AS sweet. I was expecting of a syrup and even more syrup taste right at the beginning. Light amount of toffee in the background, and just a hint of oaky woodiness to top it all off.
Overall Thoughts: Expected it to be more like a syrupy candy in a bottle, but surprisingly it was more complex thanks to the earthy notes and the dash of cinnamon to make this a great winter time beer. It's comparable to most Wee Heavy/Scotch Ales you can get here in Canada but at 13% ABV this one will get you a bit buzzed. It's interesting and I like it, but certainly not à l'abri's best.
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