Les Trois Mousquetaires S.S. American Pale Ale

Brewed by Les Trois Mousquetaires
Style: American Pale Ale
Brossard, Canada

Crystal clear light orange hue. Generous white head slowly fades though leaves honest lacing. The nose becomes almost pungent as it warms while really discreet when cool. Certainly dominated by expressive flowery and resinous hop notes coming in spades and reshaping themselves with every sniff. Frankly, the malt felt quite understated among it all, slightly-cracker-like, but failing to add an alternative dimension to this hop showdown. Rather light bodied, though with a certain slickness hypothetically from the hop resins which translates in a growing astringency as the carbonation slowly fades after a few minutes of air contact. Evolves mintier and oilier from then leaving a toothpaste reminding fresh feeling.

My Bottom Line:
This English Pale Ale’s leafy hops and soft haystack subtly flavor throughout, showcasing balance and drinkability right before its finishing bitterness plants the idea of a new sip.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam skirts the clear pale orange.
-Strawberry fruitiness is found within.
-Carbonation is frothy and filling.
-A tame citrusy fruitiness is tasted as well, linking the malt and hop contributions.

On tap at Le Festival des Bières et Saveurs de Chambly.

Golden orange ale with lught rosey hues. A nice floral hops aroma with notes of menthol and pine tree. In mouth, a classy ale with crisp malts, floral pinhey hops, lighter bodied, but quite superb. Delicious.

Bottle (750ml). Shared by blankboy with garthicus and tupalev. Very clear bright orange pour, smallish frothy-creamy beige head. Funky, vegetal leafy hops, alcohol, a bit of salty green olive. The taste carries better, grainy and lightly acidic, the funky hops come out better here (stronger yet not really vegetal like the aroma) but still an earthy tang - crisp, simple. Average body, mild bite to it, definitely an APA. Decent.

Fresh bomber. A mild hoppy beer that hits initially creamy but then you see its strong carbonation. Still drinkable but way too much carbonation. Some orange flavour, it makes the style.

My bottle (750ml) shared with HogTownHarry, tupalev & garthicus -- courtesy of Viper666. Pours a clear orange-amber with a small frothy white head. Nice aroma of Goldings hops and sweet malt. Simple but easy to drink flavour of light hops, grain and sweet malt and a light bitter finish -- this would be nice on tap. Average bodied. An enjoyable version of the style -- good stuff.

On tap at Yer Mad. Clear copper pour with a thin white head. Good aroma of citrusy and grassy hops with biscuity malt. Very good flavor of citrusy and grassy hops with a solid biscuity and caramel malt and a lasting bitter finish. The body is light with an oily texture and gentle carbonation. A good assertive APA.

In short: Nice refreshing Pale Ale (original draft version). Decent heavily caramelized Pale Ale (2007 bottle version)
How: Draft at Yer Mad (first batch 3.3/5). Then bottle 750ml almost two years later (3.1/5).
The look: Clear golden-amber body with a small beige head
In long: The bottle was overly caramelized and lacked the nice refreshing and well-balanced aspect of the original draft. Notes for the original draft: Exactly what you can expect from the style, nothing more, nothing less. Very solid but nothing that stands out. Clear copper-orange body topped by a small white head. Hoppy nose, initial malt-caramel taste followed by a hop attack and a very pleasant bitter finish. A very boring description for a pretty good beer. An excellent pub beer for the hop-lovers. The beer was brewed by an independent home brewer (Yer Mad owner I was told) at the Trois Mousquetaires premises. So far the two best beers from this brewery (Sargasse & Festive) have been brewed by home brewers. If you ask me they should add a fourth Mousquetaire because the current Trois Mousquetaires could use some help