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

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Beer # 101 Opa's Gose Wild Oats Series # 5

 Opa's Gose

Beau's All Natural Brewing Company

Van Kleek Hill, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Gose (Salted and Spiced Beer) 5.0 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 600 ml.
$7.85 (Canadian) At LCBO 
Twitter: @beausallnatural 


Beau's is one of those hard working and quirky breweries. They are constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries, creating very interesting brews for special one offs for festivals and tap takeovers. So their stable of beers is almost impossible to keep track of with out a programme. Today's beer is from their "Wild Oats" series, and is a beer style... I've never heard of: Gose. This beer was invented in Leipzig Germany in the early 16th century. It is a salted and spiced beer which precludes it from being sanctioned under the Reinheitsgebot The German Beer Law of 1516 which states beer may only be made with water, barley, and hops. As well Gose is typified by the inclusion of 50% or more malted wheat. Gose was originally bottled in long necked green bottles that would form a "yeast plug" instead of a cork as the beer underwent a secondary fermentation in the bottle. The salt in the beer came from the water originally, and later was added to the beer. Also, the fermentation of the beer was spontaneous, in open vats like Lambics, but it was soon discovered how to use yeast to produce the same flavour.

Beau's is found in a small town which is geographically located at about the halfway point between Ottawa Ontario, and Montreal Quebec is a rich agricultural area of Eastern Ontario. Beau's was founded by father and son team of Tim and Steve Beauchesne on Canada Day (July 1st) 2006.

On with the Gose...

Cloudy Yellow gold in colour fluffy white head made up of medium sized bubbles. Very wheaty nose with hints of coriander  First sip is very thin and light. The coriander waits until the finish and the salt hits you in the end drying your tongue a bit and turning the mouthfeel mineral. There is a slight damp grain feel to it as well as some citrus. The taste of the wheat dominates but the malted barley is there hiding in the back. Aeration brings out the citrusy coriander but not much else.

At this point I added more sea salt as was indicated by the package.

Salt greatly improved the flavour. It is a very delicate balancing act of adding beer and adding salt to get the right mix (Fortunately it's a 600 ml bottle!) Salt turns the volume up on the muted notes of coriander and citrus. It also tones down the wet grain taste and rounds out the beer perfectly. Strangely it is not unlike drinking beer on the seaside. The sea salt coats the back of the palate and leaves a lingering ocean taste. Malt sugars show up as well leaving a salty-sweet sugary finish. Also... the salt increases the thirst and makes me want to drink more beer faster... a little bit of downside to it.


Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: N/A First one I have had
Re-Order:  4/6 PASS
Experience:  4/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

This was a new experience for me... I have never tasted a Gose before. And it isn't that I didn't enjoy the beer, but tasting it without food and water was a little difficult. Under the correct circumstances this would be a good food beer, perhaps I can try it again the next time I make schnitzel. Just keep in mind the salt increases your thirst, have water ready, and drink it with a friend.

Cheers

CJT


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