Les Trois Mousquetaires G.C. Imperial Weizen

Brewed by Les Trois Mousquetaires
Style: Wheat Ale
Brossard, Canada

My bottle says 8%. A cloudy, effervescent, orange color with a fairly small, fizzy, nearly white head which is mostly diminishing and leaves minimal lace. Nose is doughy and estery yeast notes, lots of cloves, light toasty cereal, light wheat, and some baking acidic fruits. Flavor is very similar with more acidic notes of lemon and apple peel, estery yeast of banana, phenolic cloves, light toasty cereal, and faint wheat notes. Palate is almost medium, lively, and creamy/watery. Finishes with the same acidic fruit notes, wheat, and an almost vanilla note. Fairly easy-drinking, especially for an imperial type, but lacks any special qualities. I figured being an imperial, it would have more malt depth and more yeasty qualities, but as is, it was okay.

Apricot colored brew with a nice two finger off white head of very small active bubbles. Aroma is full of wheat, yeast, and fruit. It offers few of the typical hefe aromas. Fruit here is more plum and, like the appearance, apricot. Flavor is also fruit, floral, and yeast. Some apple flavors. Feel is smooth but just a bit fizzy. Alcohol is barely noticeable.

12 oz bottle. Pours dark hazy gold with small white lacing. Aroma is light, wheat/yeast. Taste is smooth, wheat. Hides alcohol very well. 10%???? No way I think it may have been an older version.

(11.5 bottle from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/massachusetts/w target=blank>Julio’s Liquors) Pours hazy light apricot/gold with a tall pillowy off white head. Aroma of yeast, sweet malt, perhaps a hint of citrus. Mouthfeel wheaty smooth and fairly soft. Lacing is spotty and patchy. Flavor is strong sweet malt and yeast. Nice warming alcohol presence without overtaking the flavor. Quality stuff and different than most of our American summer wheat semi-lawnmower beers.

A soft pour produces a three-finger thick, lightly tanned head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a clear honey color that shows a bright copper color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of honey-like malt, spicy clove and phenols, perhaps a touch of stale grain (though not really oxidized at this point) and a hint of fruitiness in the form of light lemon and green apple notes. The aroma is fairly average overall.

Lightly sweet and grainy tasting up front, a bit of phenolic spiciness quickly kicks in though to add a bit more dimension to the beer. The phenolics lean towards clove, but also provides a touch of light plastic. This has a general spiciness to it that contributes notes of lemon pepper, slight ginger and a touch of higher alcohols that provide a touch of warmth to the finish. This has a soft grain character to it that is one of the more prominent flavors. This finishes with a touch of hop bitterness in addition to the more noticeable phenols and higher alcohols. Fairly light bodied for a beer of this strength, though it is right in line with the lightness contributed by wheat.

Despite having a fair amount of flavors & aromatics, the mix just seems to be a bit lackluster somehow. The impact of this beer is pretty soft overall and while this is fairly appropriate for a wheat beer (even an Imperial one), this just doesn’t quite seem to work for me.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ

Bottle 12 oz from Brooklyn NY. Hazy golden yellow, head is something between fizzy and creamy. Nose is yeasty, slightly honeyish and wheaty. Sweet. Flavor is big, wheaty, sweet honey and a bit orangy. Sweet and flavorful in an american in-your-face-way. Alcohol is very well hidden, maybe even too well for it’s style, easy drinking.

Peach-hued gold. Creamy white head slowly disperses but shows good retention. Slight rockiness. Ordinary nose consists of dessert apples, sugar cookies, tangy fermented wheat and a smidge of clove and unripe banana. Quite fruity (pineapple, peach and orange) as well. Prickly carbonation deposits a fuzzy residue as it settles on the palate. Initially quenching with a twinge of acidity and juicy, vibrant-orange esters. Bubblegum teases the palate before being bludgeoned by a surge of peppery alcohol which imparts warmth and an aggressive sharpness. Wavering spicy clove virtually numbs the palate with a poignant prickle. Quite sweet and borderline medicinal due to the overt presence of alcohol combined with the high level of residual sugars. Tangy wheat, honeydew melon and green bananas assert themselves but fail to overcome the sugariness. Finishes perpetually sweet and semi-grainy with a lemon-bar accent with trailing notes of cloying sugars and a peppery alcohol sting. Nothing at all interesting or characterful about this. Even for the style the nose is overly yeasty (green banana), and the beer is overly sweet and uncleanly alcoholic.

Interesting beer and pretty good but not quite as strong as I was expecting. The color is a bright gold. Aroma is banana, cloves, yeast and some spicy hops. The flavor starts with some banana, yeast and some vanilla then spicy citrus hops. However, it’s rather easy drinking and refreshing, which I have no problem with, but I was expecting more of a kick. Other than a minor alcoholic sour note in the finish the abv is masked very well. A good beer for sure but not the easiest to find and there are so many good beers out there to fill this purpose I may have just enjoyed my one and then forget about it.