Happy Canada Day/Moving Day! Last weekend was Flatlanders Beer Festival and I finally just picked up the beers I purchased at the beer festival last night. One of the dozen I picked up was Lévisienne IPA by Corsaire Microbrasserie out of Lévis, Québec. 11 years ago today I was right across the river from Lévis at the Plains of Abraham, checking Canada Day festivities and a free concert featuring Malajube, Simple Plan and Hedley.. not my cup of tea for a music lineup, but it was free! I've promised the guys over at Corsaire I'd be doing a day trip to visit them, but each time I up in Montreal, stuff comes up - this time around: I had an interview with Jim Koch from Sam Adams.. but hopefully next time I'll finally return to Québec/Lévis! PS - that interview will hopefully be posted soon, I've just been busy with work lately!
The beer I'm checking out today is their Lévisienne IPA, an English/British-style IPA. I'm not typically a fan of English-style IPAs as I prefer more of a bitter hop-forward profile rather than malt-forward profile, but there's very few breweries focusing specifically on British-style beers so Corsaire does well at such a rare niche for the Quebec beer scene.
From the label: Fidèle au style d’origine, notre India Pale Ale possède une robe ambrée ainsi qu’un houblonnage des plus relevé. Propre aux traditions britanniques, ses arômes floraux se complètent par les saveurs caramélisées du grain occupant une place de choix. Riche en goût et en corps, notre célèbre IPA Anglaise rend hommage aux héros de l’ère des Grandes Traversées.
Appearance: Bright caramel amber ale, light to moderate carbonation in the body and a nice amount of beige foam on top, the lacing is thick and doesn't really diminish as the beer goes down.
Aroma: Definitely an English-style IPA. I get notes of caramel, grassy hops, a very faint bitterness, and a bit of a Pilsner-like characteristic to it.
Taste: Malt forward tasting with a moderate caramel sweetness to it, it's fairly dry and has a grassy yet mildly bitter hop presence to it. There's a hint of something that reminds me a hint of cinnamon or something spicy like that. There's a mild bitterness lingering at the end as well.
Overall Thoughts: Definitely more bitter than I was expecting from an English-style IPA so I'm enjoying it more than I was expecting as I just don't typically enjoy English IPAs at all. Good amount of maltiness, surprisingly hoppy (bitter) yet seems to be pretty smooth for me.. but likely not for those who dislike the taste of hops! 6.2% ABV / 78 IBU
If you happen to be in Quebec City anytime soon, I seriously recommend you to check out Le Corsaire's patio, it has probably one of the BEST views in all of Canada - a view of Chateau Frontenac and Vieux Quebec!
https://corsairemicro.com
No comments:
Post a Comment