The 2-4 Beers of Christmas Day 10:

Beer # 308 Mons Abbey Witte

Brewery: Belgh Brasse

Type: Independent Microbrewery     Est.: 1999

Location: Amos, Quebec, Canada

Beer Style: Belgian Blonde

ABV: 7.0%      IBU: ?

Format: Cork Stoppered Brown Glass Bottle  Size: 750 ml

Cost: $8.00 CAD     Purchased At: The Beer Store

Twitter: @BelghBrasse


Once more with feeling, from Belgh Brasse, tonight we are doing the Blonde. Made with the sparkling clear waters from the Abitibi Esker. 

Onto our beer...

Pours a slightly hazy gold colour with a massive bright white head made up of small and medium bubbles. The aroma is fresh flour, bread, clover honey, some hay and grass. Lightly fragrant flowers and a hint of spice round out the nose. First sip is some sweet and spicy malt with hints of molasses, vanilla caramel and honey. The middle of the taste turns to barley syrup with a nice long lingering sweetness. Aeration gives us an herbal hop kick.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 5/6 PASS
Re-Order:  5/6  PASS
Experience: 5/6 PASS
Christmas Cheer: 5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

Not quite as good as its sister beer, but still a very good sipper. I found this one a touch too sweet, and syrupy. Certainly not a fault to stop you from giving this bottle a spin. Have it with some dessert, like Christmas, cake... you know you have some of that hiding somewhere.


Cheers

CJT

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The 2-4 Beers of Christmas Day 9: Mons Abbey Witte, Belgh Brasse

Beer # 308 Mons Abbey Witte

Brewery: Belgh Brasse

Type: Independent Microbrewery     Est.: 1999

Location: Amos, Quebec, Canada

Beer Style: Flavoured Belgian Wheat

ABV: 5.0%      IBU: ?

Format: Cork Stoppered Brown Glass Bottle  Size: 750 ml

Cost: $8.00 CAD     Purchased At: The Beer Store

Twitter: @BelghBrasse


Off to Quebec tonight for a double tasting, this beer and it's sister product (coming up in the next post) hails from a Belgian brewer that moved to a small town in Quebec. The water for this beer is drawn off of the Abitibi Esker, so it is ancient, crystal, clear, glacier water. The witte is one of the four mainstay products of Belgh Brasse (The others are Dubbel, Blonde and Quadruppel all under the Mons Abbey name). Mons, isn't actually an Abbey, well certainly not here in Quebec. Abbey just means it is brewed in the Belgian Abbey Style, Mons is the town in Belgium that the brewer, Jean-Louis Marcoux, is from. The list of awards this beer has won is far too long to be detailed here. If you want they are listed on the product page here check them out. And let's check out the beer.

Onto our beer...


Pours a cloudy light gold with a bright white head made up of tiny bubbles. Aroma is certainly not confined to the glass. Just walking across the room from my photography table to my computer desk the room was filled with aromas of orange peel and coriander. A fact that is only doubled down as I put my nose in the glass. Nose is intense coriander, and bright green herbals. orange peel backs it up with soft notes of toasted wheat. Very faint hints of florals in the background and the scent of a freshly opened bag of baking flour. First sip is a soft well balanced wheat beer with smooth orange note (no bitter pith taste!).  Coriander's intensity stays on the nose, however it dances across the tongue very gently only to serve as counterpoint to the earthy wheat and the bright citrus. Mouthfeel is light and airy. One of the most balanced beers I have ever tried. Aeration bring out the yeast and more of the orange peel.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  6/6  EXCEPTIONAL
Experience: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Christmas Cheer: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL

Final Thoughts:

This is a fantastic witte beer, one suitable for anytime drinking, let along at Christmas. I would be just as happy sipping this on a patio mid summer. But the easy drinking warm aromas make this a win for Christmas too. Put this until the mistletoe for guaranteed kisses (Kisses not actually guaranteed...).

Cheers

CJT

Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

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