Roasted malt-based amber ruined by murky soft-toned hops and swill grain finish. Just barely beats Bud and Miller in the macrobrew ‘cheapstakes.’ Probably defunct a few months after 2006 imbibing.
All posts by John Fortunato
(LABATT’S) JOHN LABATT CLASSIQUE LAGER
Decent gold-labeled straw-hued lager submits musty orange-oiled Scotch malting and cereal-grained cornmeal sweetness to sharp peppery-hopped coarseness. Pastry cake, vanilla wafer, butterscotch and butternut illusions sit back. Simple, straightforward brew for North of the Border lunkheads on salmon fishing trips.
LABATT BLUE PILSENER
Great White North’s 5% alcohol version stronger and more pungent than bland, watery American teaser. Uncomplicated blend of sweet doughy malting and slightest hop bitterness round out soapy metallic mainstream product. Don’t let lightweight pilsner labeling fool you into believing it lacks robustness, though.
LA BARBERIE STOUT IMPERIAL
Fixed black cherry-currant nose complements prune puree thickness and syrupy maple malt resolve of weighty ebony stout. Toasted hop dryness deepens robust black coffee-chocolate finish, gaining burnt wood hint by third passing.
LA BARBERIE ROUSSE FORTE AUX FRUIT
Pungently strong dark-fruited red ale loads extremely dry prune tartness above tannic white grape, oak-aged unripe cherry, and sour grapefruit bittering. Sherry waft augments cherry-berry undercurrent as sour coffee requital infiltrates mineral-grained malting. For advanced palates.
LA BARBERIE ROUSSE BITTER ALE
Soured orange frontage and herbaceous undercurrent stricken by raw-honeyed hop-charred bitterness deepening abundant dry citric finish.
LA BARBERIE INDIA PALE ALE
Indistinct amber-yellowed IPA stays brutally bitter. Tangy orange-peeled lemon rind elegance picks up piney floral-hopped bittering done in by perfunctory smoked wood residual. Ashen cinder remnant mars citric ensemble.
LA BARBERIE BLONDE BIOLOGIQUE
Tangy grapefruit-lemon persuasion brightens white-peppered dark-spiced hop bitterness of golden-hazed moderate body. Mild citric vibe overlays brisk water flow. Not as experimental or bold as biological handle claims.
(LA BARBERIE) LA MONDAINE BLANCHE AUX AGRUMES
Translucent amber Belgian-styled white ale boasts appreciative citrus-spiced dry-hopped vigor. Lemony orange-peeled tartness gets embittered by spruce-tipped pine needle sharpness. Unripe orange-peach-grapefruit medley deepens backend.
LA BARBERIE BLANCHE AUX MURES ALE
Viscous White Ale (with speckled yeast sediment dotting tan head) places brisk orange tang over lemon-limed berry-melon-cantaloupe illusions. Bittering hops thin out by fruit-doused crisp-grained finish.
KWAK ALE
Sold as Pauwel Kwak Specialty Ale in larger 22-ounce bottles, broad-ranging full-bodied bronze-toned ale retains snappy acidic brettanomyces bite that flattens creamy butterscotch opening, floral-herbed yeast serenade, juicy plum tartness and curried cherry-berry spicing. Mid-palate, fruity Chardonnay-brandy-rosé wining and tart red grape tannins secure tongue-tickling hop bittering, turning overtly alcohol-ridden by stiff finish. In 12-ounce bottle, mild butterscotch sweetness enjoins dried-fruited red wining and medicinal ethanol quirk to contrast sedate up-front profile.
(NOVA PAKA) KUMBURAK BOHEMIAN LAGER
Peculiar blend of wood burnt smokiness and sinewy yeast souring forms abstruse musty grain-toasted India Pale Ale-like palate. Slim orange-lemon peel bittering combats hop-charred charcoal finish. Completely unlike any lager you’ve encountered.