Unibroue just launched their newest beer the other day - Autre Chose IPA à la pêche (Peach IPA). Autre Chose is a new series of beers that's experimenting with non-Belgian styles of beer and the Peach IPA is their first beer as part of the series. I'm not sure where Unibroue plans to take the Autre Chose line but they've been brewing a few non-Belgian style beers for well over 20 years ago with their "U" line of lagers which can be found in the discount section of any dépanneur in Québec.
Autre Chose IPA à la pêche is an IPA brewed with peaches and dry hopped with a medley of Cascade, Galaxy, Citra and Lemondrop hops. I'm expecting the beer to be slightly bitter with a large tropical presence. 50 IBU and 6% ABV.
Another thing, Autre Chose is only available in Quebec so you won't be seeing it at your local liquor store anytime soon.
Appearance: The IPA is slightly hazy and pours a rich golden straw body with a light amount of carbonation and a thin layer of snow white head on top that's mostly near the glass.
Aroma: Peaches. Peaches definitely dominate the aroma but there's also a bit of a hop presence, an ever so slight note of pine from the Cascade and a good amount of tropical fruit aromas like pineapple that unfortunately gets overpowered by the peach fruitiness. This definitely smells like a Unibroue beer - it reminds me a bit of Blanche de Chambly a tad as it's fruity, slightly spiced as if there's a bit of coriander but I don't think there is any in this beer.
Taste: Again, peaches. This is sweeter than most non New England IPAs as the flavour of peach is running the show here. Compared to the aroma, I'm finding that the hops are definitely showing more presence in the flavour as I'm getting the medley of hops popping up in every sip. There's a bit of pine and pepper popping out from the Cascade hops, while the Galaxy and Citra hops are giving it a bit of pineapple, lemon, and a bit of floral presence that I'm used to in the popular IPAs of today. The mouthfeel is mostly dry and the aftertaste is a bit of a pine bitterness and a bit of apple.
Overall Thoughts: I don't know what to think about Unibroue brewing an IPA, it's kind of weird but at the same time, U Blonde Lager has existed for forever so it's nice to see Unibroue experimenting a bit lately. It didn't really seem like an IPA to me - it did have a bit of hoppiness to it but the peach flavour was a bit much. I feel like they will be doing something like their Éphémère line and come out with a bunch of different fruit flavours over time. What would I like to see? They should try to master the Belgian IPA or do what Maltstrom did and create a new world meets old world Saison.
The beer was easy to drink though and brewed only 10 days ago, making it the second freshest batch of beer I've ever had from Unibroue, the freshest being Old Milwaukee Light right off the bottling line back in 2016.
As stated before, you can only find this in Quebec, so if you're looking for this beer.. either you're going to have to get an awesome friend to send you a bottle (or can.. apparently Unibroue has cans now?) or go to Quebec! For me, mon ami Nicolas over at Sipshare.com got his brother to bring me a couple of bottles (and other goodies) to try!
https://www.unibroue.com/en/our-beers/autre-chose-peach-ipa/39
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