Brewers Art Le Canard

Brewed by The Brewers Art
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Baltimore, Maryland USA

Bottle shared by puddintane: Pours a hazy gold with a big white head. Aroma, pepper, spices, yeasty and bready notes. Flavor, yeasty, spices, pepper, floral hops. Not bad.

light copper with a large fluffy beige head, it has citrusy aroma with hint of spice and candy sugar. sweet and fruity flavor, the finish is pleasant.

Bottle from State Line. Pours hazy dark straw/orangy colored with 3-fingers of head that reappears with every repour. Nose is spicy yeast, bready malt, citrus, rock sugar. Tastes citric, with some sweet honey and apricot notes, some dry florals, spicy yeast, and rock sugary malt. Very smooth and velvety on the tongue. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this again.

Bottle at Paul’s Hoboken Gathering: Hazy honey-colored pour with a strong white head. Sweet nose with mainly honey, banana and some diacetyl character. Smooth carbonation with a sweet flavor. Lots of honeyish notes and mild over ripened fruits. The finish has a very light spice hint. A bit too sweet overall, but not bad.

Brewer’s Art’s latest bottling, "Le Canard", an ode to Kwak. After disgorgement of a very toyt cork, a quick upswell of eager froth heads for the exit. With a quick slant of a tulip glass at the ready, a carefull pour unloads a massive three-inch head of eggshell. Wowza. A sight to behold in a Duvel glass. The rocky, whipped seafoam took a full five minutes to begin to fall. A cone of dense froth stood tall as the sides relinquished their grip. A rare display of extreme lacework. Ripped sheets and foam-ropes. Aromatics lead off with a blast of peach skins, orange zest, citrus-laden bubblegum, and cracked coriander. Extremely fresh and lively, and it reminds me of the first whiff of LaChouffe that blew me away, long ago. Creamy and light mouthfeel. Quite soft and somewhat pillowy. The carbonation delivers plenty of liveliness. Orange marmalade, fresh peaches, Indian coriander, and grassy overtones start the pallet. Hints of blossom honey, white pepper, candied cloves, and zesty hops follow through. Bitterness is firm and balancing, with residuals quite tame for a Belgian. Alcohol is warming only as it finishes, along with lingering citrus zests, and tropical essence. This beer blows away Kwak. Well crafted and pretty dry for the style. Hard to find any faults in this one, but I suppose some time in a Brett-laden Chardonnay barrel (or Gerwertz), would put it over the top. Big thanks to my buddy Mike for hooking me up..Proper.

Another winner for BA. Great maltiness on the nose, tongue and finish. A perfect spike of spicy hops jumps in to compliment things. Fruit and yeastiness abound. A perfect foil for the andouille sausage pizza.

On tap at the brewery...dark, coppery-hued body, a nice looking foamy head. The aroma is full and strong, filled with spices, hops and an interesting cellared mustiness. Classical Belgian aroma - malty and bready. The flavor is much hoppier than I expected, but its pleasant. It’s pretty strong, so you have to be careful not to drink it too fast.

Cloudy copper out of the tap, with small ring of lace - very musty, earthy, barnyardy aroma - this quality is quite present in the flavor as well, along with a pastry-like yeastiness - slight warming spices, a bit of tart funk way in the background - medium-sweet, with slight fruity esters - an odd, out-of-place hop bitterness makes it a little less enjoyable - otherwise not too bad.