This weekend, I attended what is arguably the most enjoyable beer festival in the Montreal area - the Festival Bières et Saveurs in Chambly. Many moons ago the event was called La Festibière, it then went bankrupt and then was resurrected as the current moniker. The location in Chambly at the historic fort always makes for a fine outing, and it is the key meeting of francophone brewers in Quebec always taking place on Labour Day weekend. Lucky as I sometimes am, I went there together with a friend who works in a high level position for an important supplier of yeast to many Quebec breweries, and so you can probably imagine that we had a good time talking with and imbibing at the stands of the company's clients.
Before I write more about the festival, though, I'd like to feature a beer that has been pushing at the top of my list for quite some time, but I needed to wait for the right time to take its picture: The Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue. Given that the label of this Belgian witbier features a picture of the old fort in Chambly, it was clearly a must to photograph this blonde in front of the fort. Chambly is not only an old outpost of the French colonial army, but also the founding village of Unibroue, a venerable brewery that was among the first generation of craft brewers in Quebec. They were bought up by Sleeman around the turn of the millennium, and are now part of Sapporo after the Japanese giant gobbled up Sleeman. Same old story here - while a few of the Unibroue beers did not change, many brands were discontinued after the takeover, new ones of inferior quality and targeted at the masses were introduced, and the head brewer left to work at Chimay in Belgium because he couldn't stand the weather of constantly having to cut cost.
The Blanche de Chambly is a fine Belgian witbier - one that I have enjoyed on many occasions in the past and would recommend to anyone with a head for wheat beer. Its bread flavours are absolutely delicious, and it has only a hint of coriander that actually pleases because it blends in with the sour yeast notes rather than dominating them. It is those same sour falvours and some very gentle hops that combine to cut the back palate nicely without upsetting the party on your tongue. And while I had opted to have the Midget Extinguisher for this photo shoot, the Blanche also comes in a mighty 750 ml bottle that I would normally prefer for a proper thirst extinguishing job. But since were were going to attend the beer festival immediately after, I opted for the midget version in anticipation of a long and thirst-quenching afternoon.
The festival itself was its usual ambient affair - lots of easy going folks - large and small, young and old, sober and wasted, etc., merrily mingling without a care for that nasty thing called the world going on outside the wire fence. I wonder whether they were trying to keep us in like sheep in a pen or shelter us from that to which we would have to return inevitably. Either way, I enjoyed the views and the mood of this location on the Richelieu river and sampled some fine beers about which I can only report what I managed to write down in the haze of an evolving buzz. I also did not take any photos because you were either served your libations in a hideous plastic cup or poured a highly variable 4 ounces into your own glass. Neither is the kind of presentation I would enjoy photographing, I assure you , and I am not prepared to compromise the standards of this blog so soon again after my sins in the misery of Saputo stadium
One beer I tried was from our friends at Les Troi Mousquetaires - an Oktoberfest style. Talk about a meal in a glass - strong in alcohol, rich in mouthfeel, and so malty in character that a spoon would probably stand upright on its own in this beer. The intense alcohol flavours helped me over the egde a little bit sooner than anticipated, but I certainly did not mind! I also had the Helles (German style pale lager) from Hopfenstark, a brewery just north-east of Montreal in L'Assomption. I always liked the name of this brewery, which loosely translates into English as "strong as hops". But this beer did not please all that much, I have to say. It did not have much balance, starting off extremely sweet and then slamming some strong bitterness onto your tongue, laced with a peculiar alcohol flavour that seemed to belong into an after-dinner candy, not a beer.
The Black Mama from Broadway Pub Shawinigan was a stand-out in my admittedly hazy recollections. This was a Schwarzbier style - German black lager - that was nice all around, with a rich malty palate and a well balanced hop character that cut the back dry like a knife. Jean Chretien, no wonder you love this town so much! The pale ale (Corte-Real) from La Microbrasserie le Naufrageur in Carleton sur Mer was not as outstanding, but enjoyable nevertheless. I had wanted to try their beer about a year ago on a motorbike trip to Gaspesie, but Hurricane Irene cancelled those plans and made my rear end feel rather cut after two days of hard-core riding. This beer had plenty of caramel flavours, a nose of old hops, and a lingering malt back palate that needed some fresh hops bitterness to do to this beer what Irene did to me.
Last, I was treated with an out-of-this-world generosity by the main man at the stand of Brasseur de Montreal. I truly enjoyed the Stout Cacao they had on their menu - not a regular beer they sell, but truly a fine effort that tasted like a chilled hot chocolate. Having stated my enjoyment of this beer, I do wish it had a back palate with more assertive hoppiness to cut dry the sweet cocoa flavours. There were several others that I tried, but by that time I had discontinued taking notes ...
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