Les Trois Mousquetaires MIM 2005 - Elie Roy, La Festive

Bottle: Poured a clear deep brown color ale with a medium off-white foamy head with good retention and some great lacing. Aroma of cardboard and port-like malt is probably due to aging. Taste also shows notes of aging with port-like notes with some cardboard and a light dry finish. Body is about average with good carbonation. Not in the best condition but still enjoyable.

Couleur brune-rougâtre foncée, claire, mousse timide, laissant un lacet. Arôme chocolat, torréfié. Goût très torréfié, bonne amertume tranchante, finale longue de café. Corps moyen, effervescence un peu forte. Correcte.

Sampled at Winnipeg Brew Bombers homebrew club meeting. Red/caramel brown in colour. Aromas of milk chocolatem roasted malts, a bit of weak coffee and caramel candy. Definite chocolate malt flavor, along with some earthy hops, and LOTS of chalk. Mouth puckering dry chalky finish. Not great.

Bottle from MartinT via Poperinge. Light head. Dark brown colour. Dry malty aroma. Thin body. Weird smokey light malt flavour. A woody bitterness. Like a weak Old Ale with a bit of chocolate.

I’m not a big fan of this one. It pours a nice dark brown with a nice head. The aroma has a nice nuttiness and a touch of roast and a bit of hoppiness in the back. However, the flavor has a harsh bitterness and astringency that really harms the flavor of what could have been a tasty brown ale.

2006 bottle shared with Olivier on 8/25/06.
Very dark, deep, almost stout-like appearance for a brown ale. Ruby-chestnut and dark auburn hues cut the inky brown tones, however. Old-ivory colored head is small, but dense and recedes slowly to cover/ring, providing light, blotchy lacing. Low to medium clarity.
Both nuttiness and creaminess are heavy in the nose. Walnut paste, mixed with brown sugar and sweet vanilla cream. Quite luxurious and cut, on the finish, with some light lactic suggestions, bit of vinousness (prunes, berries). Definitely a great balance of tartness and sweet malts, without any boring astringency, or overattenuation leading to acrid brown malts and grainy, lean notes. Currants and raisins continue on, hand-in-hand with brown sugar, while a soft, dusty yeast begins to creep in with warming.
Bold and malty flavors shows wonderful extraction and provides a most fluid, creamy, and soft mouthfeel. Low carbonation helps concentrate the malts, but the tartness, some lactic notes, plenty of dark, boisterous berries and hop bitterness all combine to dry out the finish. It ends significantly more dry than it begins, but the texture is never compromised, nor is it ever "dry", which helps control the toasty/roasty/bitter malt notes. Attenuation is not taken down too far, which is a major problem of many brown ales. Moderate yeastiness on the end is soft and characterful. No doubt the hop flavor has greatly dissipated over the past months, but it is still a unique and well-done brown ale.

Bière brune foncée presque opaque. Bon collet qui se maintient. Odeur de houblon américain, de malt, de caramel et de cacao. Au goût, le caramel ressort en premier et est suivi par des houblons rappelant des agrumes. Une finale amère un peu trop astringeante.

I do not expect much from brown beers so am usually not disapointed. This is about average for the style, above average carbonation and licorice. Country brown colour with good amount of foam. Drinkable with stir fry.