La Face Cachée de la Pomme Neige Éternelle

Brewed by La Face Cachée de la Pomme
Style: Ice Cider
Hemmingford, Canada

Thanks to Ken for this one. Dark clear gold color. Tangy apple aroma, slightly weak. Incredible tart apple flavor that lends quickly to a strongnly sweet apple flavor. Apple skins flavor creates a dryness that rounds out the flavor. The feel is lightly sticky but not enough to detract but rather amplify the flavor. Simply amazing.

Courtesy of kmweaver. Clear apple juice body with no head. The nose is sweet apple juice with notes of honey and raw sugar. The flavor is moderately sweet with tons juicy apple, bitter apple skins, honey and cotton candy. Medium/full body is soft with light carbonation and warming alcohol.

375mL bottle, courtesy of radiomgb. Thanks, Jeff! Pours a bright, clear golden-orange color; headless with excellent legs. Enormous amounts of fresh, slightly tart apples and honey in the aroma; just a great, gorgeous apple character; lightest oak. Full mouthfeel: goddamn, just tons of fresh apples, apple cider, and viscous, sweet honey; loads of intense apples mixed with the slightest touch of soft, toasty oak and vanilla; more complex than Frimas, with a delicate, warming alcohol presence with the fresh apple and honey notes in the original Neige. Awesome cider. Lengthy finish, showing tons of apples, honey, and a touch of sugar. Sweet, but integrated into an intensely tasty cider.

Bottle shared by kmweaver. Medium dark yellow, nearly orange in appearance. Huge sticky sugary apple nose, very sweet smelling with a load of alcohol. Syrupy, sticky, very deep and complex red apple skins, sugars, some light spice, deep and intriguing.

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. Clear golden yellow color with no head. Cider slowly slides down the glass edges. Very rich and intense crisp sweet cut apple tart aroma. The oak is light, but perceptible. Blazing swee tartness to start the taste, smoothes out gracefully on the palate with some slight oaky character in the middle. Fantastic.

In short: Ice-Cider with a higher than average wet/ripe flavour.
How: I had the three Face Cachée de la Pomme classics (Neige, Neige Éternelle and Frimas) side by side at Montreal’s Flaveurs, Bières and Caprice Festival 2007.
The look: Golden-yellow body with no head.
In long: Attack is very similar to its famous Neige sister. Smooth, sweet with a lot of red apples skin. The main difference was mainly in the finish and comeback. Somehow this one dwelled in the extra-ripe apples and fruit moist territory. Not unpleasant at all but I slightly preferred the smoother more drinkable Neige. Being in quebec I find the name “Eternal Snow” insolent, almost offensive. That’s like calling a New Jersey drink “Everlasting Smell”. Show some compassion please.

Particulate pseudo-bubbles in stasis, a floating light reflector in the midst of deep golden, molten nectar. Gorgeous and calm. Invocation of the distinct and catastrophic pummeling from the non-oaked version is immediate, a storm of compressed apple and poignant sugars, escalated now by insightfulness and retrospect only wood could add. A twist of tanginess, accentuated by tannic acids. A bakery has never released such near-space-conquering and concentrated aromas. Buttery pie crust notes that skirt the sweetness are pinned together at the edges by hints of molasses. The climbing of sweet peaks never before scaled is unbelievable - this is the single sweetest nose encountered, ever, in the realm of fermented beverages; such potency and concentration! The flavor is decidely calmer and less throttling but still supremely rich and well-executed. Apple juice, and accesorizing and complimentary(typical accompaniments) pie crust, glazed, caramelized and brown sugars and earthy fruit skins are all enveloped by thin sheets of oak influence. A mild tartness yields to acidity that disperses flavors evenly and resembles the mildest of carbonation sensations. Sweetness is off the charts. Ripeness and residual punctuation is so hearty and grows so steadily, the quickly compounding finale that lingers on is indescribable. The finish is sweet, very lightly doughy and tart, tannin hints and appleskins lingering in the shadows and mostly eclipsed by pure apple sugars. The mouthfeel is full and sticky with soft spurts of airiness. The palate does dry signifigantly as alcohol and sugars assemble and build up with each successive and less challenging sip. Virtually no bite from tannins and near-zero warmth from alcohol is a pleasant surprise and allows the palate and sensory perception the pleasure of easy focus and exacting dissection. My love for ice cider, with this offering, becomes an unbreakable covenant, a fortress of impenetrable love and adoration.

Pours an almost crystalline amber color. The aroma is voluptuous and seductive. Bringing me to the orchard, picking and devouring the ripest apple, and then slipping into a deep slumber. A melange of aromas are wafting effortlessly skyward, apples, vanilla, some roasted oranges, hints of spices. The flavor is as intense and causing as much contemplation as the aroma. Undulating waves of evolving sweetness, brought in balance with a crisp acidity. Yet another amazing cider.