Charlevoix Simcoe Double IPA

Pours a cloudy orange pumpkin color with a thin white head. Superb aroma of resinous and piney hops with caramel malt. Excellent flavor of resinous, piney Simcoe hops with a sturdy caramel malt, there’s also something spicy that reminds me of rye. The body is medium to full and the texture is creamy. It’s quite an achievement for a brewery specialised in belgian beer to come up and offer such an outstanding IIPA, kudos.

Strong maltiness is thick and toasty with lots of baked bread underlyings, almost rye reminiscent through its spiciness. Looking good that beer, dark amber with reddish reflects, clear and mounted by a tight little white head. The growing bitterness holds the malt by the hand through and through, at first drowned into its roundness, but slices over slices eventually crack that peppery mango territory with a punch of piney nuances on top of earthy, surprisingly strong pale sandy and leafy notes. Excellent execution, but the flavors which come out just are not the best fit to my personal tastes. I guess I don’t enjoy Simcoe as much as I thought I did, I always aboard it anticipating almost pure pine resin, but there seems to always be that stone-dry, powdery, sandy component which I’m less fond of.

On tap at Vices & Versa. This clear amber beer has a good malty flavour with some tangny caramel added to it. It has just the right bitterness for a double IPA. This is just one more excellent beer from Charlevoix.

Slightly clouded dark copper body, medium off-white head with medium retention. Aroma of pine-tree and candied orange. Amazingly delicious earthy malt flavours, spicy caramel, juicy hops. Lively carbonation. Great full body, anything but watery. Long finish with medium-high bitterness. This brewery has been making great beers for years but this is their first attempt at a very hoppy/bitter beer. I guess these guys like to get it right before putting out a product, thus proving that the Microsoft way is not the only way.

Robe rouge surmontée d’une mousse beige. Arômes de fruits et de pamplemousse. Saveurs fortes de pamplemousse amer et sucré. Wow!