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Craft Beer Advent Calendar - 2017

2017 Advent Calendar – Day 21 – La Debauche Saison

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I’m getting excited. My wife and I are travelling to Hawaii for the holiday season and I can’t wait to get there and enjoy the beach. The time is coming soon. I’m looking forward to also checking out some of the breweries there that have popped up since the last time I’ve visited. Saying all this, I won’t be posting much other than this calendar and one other write-up I have scheduled to be posted. So, no Friday Beer News until the new year. But, we still have a few more days of this Calendar left, so let’s get to it.

Today we have a beer coming to us from La Debauche Brewery located in Angoulême, France. The beer is a Saison.

The brewery was founded in 2013 by a couple of beer lovers and amateur brewers. Wanting to bring their beers and a love for the craft to the people in their region, they decided to make a go professionally. They are one of the new development of breweries that seem to be popping up in France. The brewery is located close to the town centre to reintroduce the brewing industry to the urban environment.

They produce a wide range of beers ranging from an Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon to a Saison, to the amber we are trying aged in Cognac Barrels. What’s even more interesting about their beers is that they partner with local artists and tattooists to develop designs for their labels. This creates some neat artwork and makes for a unique experience when drinking their beer.

Saison’s are a sturdy farmhouse style of beer.  Originally brewed in Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium, it was a beer brewed at the end of the cool season to last through the warmer months before refrigeration was common.  It had to be sturdy enough to be able to last but also not too strong so it would quench your thirst in the summer months. This style of beer is very complex with a lot fruit notes, spices, and earth yeast notes to the beer. They tend to combine nice fruity notes with spice and a subtle sourness or tartness.  Usually lots of spice with mild bitterness and a dry crisp finish and only a hint of sweetness.

At one point in time Saison’s were an almost extinct beer style but they have seen a great resurgence and are commonly brewed by several craft breweries across Canada. Saisons, for me, are an interesting and flavourful style of beer that can bring a lot of interesting notes. I’m excited to give it a try.

Appearance – Pours a cloudy blonde colour with a thick white head.
Smell – Yeast esters bringing some yeasty notes, fruit and floral aromas (orange, honey, grapefruit) and some hints of coriander.
Taste – Citrus notes along with some of that Belgian yeast character. A bit of a bitterness to it on the finish. Those floral notes come across more as a herbal taste. There is a slightly metallic finish on this as well.
Mouth feel – Belgian yeast and some pepper with a slightly bitter, metallic, dry finish.
Overall – Overall this brings mostly what I’d expect from a saison. Good Belgian yeast notes along with some citrus and herbal notes. Coriander is there along with a slightly bitter dry finish. The odd metallic taste is slight off putting.
Do I like it? – I did like. Overall I found it to be pleasant and enjoyable.

 

Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2016
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Busy day in the beer community in the city today. First, some bad news. The PC government has cancelled the Craft Beer Loan program that had been announced under the NDP. While not part of their mandate, it was certainly something looked to as a boon to already existing and developing breweries. Its cancellation will have an impact, sadly, but to what extent is yet to be seen.

On a positive note, Half Pints is having their 12 beers of Christmas, Torque has a couple of new beers on at their taproom, Barn Hammer is doing another night of Barn Raising and PEG has a new beer being launched. So, while there is certainly a hit to the craft beer community through the cancellation of the loan program, the current craft breweries are alive and doing their best to engage the community.

Today we have a beer coming to us from La Debauche Brewery located in Angoulême, France. The beer is a Amber Ale that has been aged in Cognac Barrels.

The brewery was founded in 2013 by a couple of beer lovers and amateur brewers. Wanting to bring their beers and a love for the craft to the people in their region, they decided to make a go professionally. They are one of the new development of breweries that seem to be popping up in France. The brewery is located close to the town centre so as to reintroduce the brewing industry to the urban environment.

They produce a wide range of beers ranging from an Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon to a Saison, to the amber we are trying aged in Cognac Barrels. What’s even more interesting about their beers is that they partner with local artists and tattooists to develop designs for their labels. This creates some really neat artwork and makes for a unique experience when drinking their beer.

Amber Ales are, obviously, amber in colour, hoppy, and moderate strength. Balance between these two components can vary quite a bit depending on the brewer. In the versions that are hopped this component shouldn’t clash with the caramel malty notes. The style is darker and more caramelly than a typical pale ale with less bitterness than an APA. This one has been aged in Cognac Barrels and I’m looking forward to that aspect of it.

Appearance – Pours a hazy amber with a good 1” head.
Smell – Smell is of caramel, oak, cognac, plums and an alcohol note on nose.
Taste – Tastes of oak, cognac, dark fruit, caramel malty sweetness that is almost like candied sugar. Alcohol warmth is noticeable all the way through.
Mouth feel – Medium-full bodied with an oily mouthfeel and soft carbonation. Alcohol warmth is present throughout.
Overall – The cognac and oak aging of this beer are really front and centre. The amber ale base brings some nice malt components to it but are overpowered by the alcohol warmth and cognac notes. If there are any hops in here, they are lost.
Do I like it? – I’m a pretty big fan of oak aged beers. The use of Cognac barrels was really quite nice and brought some of that complexity found in cognac to the beer. It’s strong and noticeably so, so it was more of a sipping beer, but I enjoyed it.