Belle Gueule Brassin Anniversaire

Brewed by Brasseurs RJ
Style: Doppelbock
Montreal, Canada

Bottle [660ml] shared with HogTownHarry & garthicus -- c/o garthicus. Pours a deep ruby-orange with an average size diminishing off-white head. Aroma of caramel malt, grain, nuts, hops and alcohol. Flavour of grain, biscuity malt, some sweetness (brown sugar or molasses or something) and light hops. Medium bodied. This is definitely the best Belle Gueule beer that I’ve tried, I liked it.

Medium amber pour with a small head. Nice bready sweet malty aroma with notes of toffee and nuts. Flavor is a tad watery but the bready malts continue witha semi bitter semi dry sweet caramel finish . Pretty good stuff. Nice effort.

Bottle (660ml). Shared by garthicus -Sisyphus beer! - with me and blankboy. Amber, clear, average diminishing off-white head. Somewhat boozy aroma, a bit of plastic in with the oily grain and dry herbal bitterness. Okay taste, grainy but sweet, a little floral - not bad, just a bit boring. Thin, sticky body, a bit boozy, finishes fairly quickly, leaves a grainy, somewhat gritty aftertaste.

My bottle. This was the labour of my love in Montreal, after a savage 3 day non-stop beer festival/drinking session I was dragged 5 or 6kms by foot to a beer store. I felt like a boiled turd and managed to purchase only this bottle as I was trying to keep my liver from coming out my mouth. So, the walk back to the hotel was a long long painful one and on more than two or three occasions I was tempted to throw the bottle in the garbage. Luckily - I didn’t throw in the towel and we’re here and able to rate it today. Appearance: Ruby red with an initial good white head which soon disappears. Aroma: Lots of malt, some nuts, biscuit, vinyl and cereal. Flavour: Nicely malty with a pleasant amount of carbonation. Toast, grain and a nice caramel and dry finish.

Bouteille 660ml. De couleur cuivrée et claire. Nez de grains de malt aux petites notes rôties, léger de caramel et de houblon herbeux (gazon) avec des notes de sucre brun et des traces de bois et d’alcool. Moyenne-ronde en bouche avec un pétillement bas-moyen et une texture moyennement huileuse. Goût de grains de malt sucrés accompagné de faibles notes boisées (bois sec, traces de fût de chêne) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un moyen-léger goût de caramel toffee sucré avec des traces de sucre brun et de biscuit à la mélasse. Parallèlement, l’on retrouve un moyenne-légère amertume d’alcool doux jusqu’en finale accompagné d’un goût de houblon herbeux asséchant (foin et herbes mouillées) aux petites notes florales. Post-goût moyen et un peu sec, moyen-léger amer de houblon herbeux avec un léger goût d’alcool et de faibles notes de rôti et boisées.

A nice imitation of a doppelbock, but when compared to the original. This just doesn’t make the cut as the taste just isn’t full enough and the palate isn’t up to par.

A dark clear brown lager with a thick moka head. A pungeant moka aroma, nutty and grainy. In mouth, a grainy malty lager. Medium bodied. Tasted Feb. 14 2009. Bought at Jovi.