RJ Le Cheval Blanc Snoreau

Brewed by Brasseurs RJ
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Montreal, Canada

On tap at Cafe Volo. Dark orange pour. Little head, quickly dissipated. Strong sweet aroma - citrus, spice, malt and alcohol all present. Initial taste was classic strong Belgian Ale, but it did have an odd citrus aspect to it that was initially off-putting. This mellowed with time in the glass and a lot of spiciness emerged which was nice. Mouthfeel was thick and a little syrupy. Again, strong alcohol was present at first but that mellowed as well. Overall, pretty good, but it just took a little work.

(2003 bottle) Hazy amber body with medium off-white head. Aroma is medium sweet, white grape, apricot, coriander. Taste is medium sweet, strong cranberr, lemon, and ginger make this quite sour. Coriander also present. Medium body, some acidity. The sourness really threw me, as the nose gave no indication of that - almost makes it undrinkable. I might think it was infected but for the several raters that also noted the strong sourness.

On Tap at Volo... Definitely a good beer, pours a light golden with a nice thick white head. Reminds me a lot of unibroue. There are notes of corriander, cranberries, blackberries as well... aromatically sensational. Palate has plenty of citrus and champagne with a soapy sudsy mouthfeel, which means the barley malts are prominent... a lot like griffon brews. Compares well and better to those brews afformentioned. Nice stuff!

Orangish amber with a head that quickly dissapears. No lacing really. Carbonation is quite active though. Awesome aromas! Coriander blended with ginger and other spices. Some metallic notes, some malts, bittering hops and plenty of citrus. Flavors are amazing as well. Funky and tart. Ginger comes out a lot more with the coriander being muted slightly. Small hints of bittering hops. Very complex spice bill. This rocks.

Hazy orange, ruby with good carbonation levels. The aroma is awesome with some fruity funk & barny sour yeast; very spicy too. The flavor is tart with nice sourness & sweet hops. Delicious dry finish, puckering yet balanced and complex.

Very nice cloudy orange color, medium white head. Very spicy and fruity aroma. Fruity and spicy (coriander mostly) flavor. Light top medium body, dusty mouthfeel, lively carbonation. Feels like a cross between an English winter beer and a Belgian Strong Ale, not bad !

Pours a orangey/pink/red haze, odd but pretty. Big white long lasting head. Apple and juicy citrus hop aroma. Very Floral. It was hard to figure out what that one flavour was until I read the label. Cranberry. Some grapefruit. Ginger is in there but not overbearing. Particularily yeasty. Mildly spicey warm finish. I've had it on tap, better suited to bottle conditioning.

Bottle: Poured a red beer with a bubbly head that disappeared a tad too fast. Aroma is quite spicy with some sweetness in the mix. Carbonation is really good and body is medium, which is quite convenient for fruit beer. The ginger taste is quite powerful (does taste like real ginger as opposed to some flavoured ginger taste) with the sweetness from the cranberry balancing things out. Overall, this is a very refreshing beer and probably a bit underrated. I had this beer about two years ago and I see some major improvement with those products recently.