Review: Microbrasserie du lac Saint-Jean's Tante tricotante tripel

This here belle bière comes from Microbrasserie du lac Saint-Jean out of Saint-Gédéon, Quebec, right along Lac St-Jean (obviously), which is about a 3 hour drive to la belle ville of Quebec City where I was at the other week. One thing that's great about Quebec's beer scene is that small towns, villages, and even farms seem to have their own brewpub or brewery out there, while here in Manitoba.. we only dream about it. One thing behind that is that it's insanely restrictive to get craft beer from elsewhere IN Quebec, so they have to survive somehow.. and survive they have!

The folks over at La Boîte à Bières right off of Avenue Laurier were insanely helpful in helping me pick and choose beers that I should bring back to Manitoba, and I was not disappointed by any of their suggestions! Thankfully this beer made its way over, phew!


Tante Tricotante which is a bit of a play on words loosely translates to English as Aunt knitting-aunt, so a you can see.. it doesn't translate well to English, but hey.. let's drink the beer! It's a Belgian-style triple ale and 8% ABV and 500mL bottle - perfect size for individual consumption.

Appearance: A classic Belgian Triple, a light citrusy appearance, a bit of orange peel, lemon peel, straw, yet hazy (minimal sediment) and reminiscent of a witbier in some sense... a very patio worthy beer in appearance. Head wise.. thick thick bright snow white head.. and after 10 minutes since pouring it.. it's still almost all there!

Aroma: Scents of various fruits and citruses like pear, lemon, and a bit of apple, your standard Belgian yeasts, a light spiciness/floralness coming from the hops, but honestly.. quite a light aromatic tripel by my standards.

Taste: La Tante tricotante has a citrusy and fruity forwardness when you first drink this beer, lemon, pear and a hint of apple. Very noticable rich Belgian yeast throughout the beer, somewhat boozey, but quite a stellar tripel.

Overall Thoughts: 8.0% ABV in a 500mL bottle, perfect size for sharing with me, myself and I. It's a citrusy and fruity take on a Belgian tripel and does a very solid job at keeping my tastebuds happy. A patio-friendly beer for watching the Habs lose against the Senators tonight.. there's always next year Habs!

PS, if you're ever in Quebec City, check out La Boîte à Bières!

www.microdulac.com/