Oktoberfest des Quebecois

Oktoberfest in Quebec? Not as far fetched as you might think, even though Bavarian traditions have little real roots here, as the largest part of German immigrants to this province are apparently Hessian mercenaries invited by the British to help help defend against American invasions. But still, Bavaria has an official representation in Quebec, and likewise Quebec has an embassy-like office in Munich (I have proof of this from a photo I took there, but it was taken with an analogue camera and I do not have a scan handy). The two are clearly sister states/provinces, each thinking of itself as a distinct society within its country, each daydreaming (to varying degrees of seriousness) about secession, and each featuring a dialect that makes beer turn sour. As you might imagine, the Oktoberfest in Quebec, held about a month ago, had a serious presence from Bavaria, even as the event itself was held in a suburban location off Montreal island on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River.

Oktoberfest beer is commonly known to be a copper colour, Vienna lager or Märzen beer style, even though it is not really a style of its own. It simply means that the beer has been brewed especially for Bavaria's Oktoberfest, and the style of beer there has changed over the years. The honor to brew for Quebec's Oktoberfest was given to that wonderful outfit from Brossard: Les Trois Mousquetaires, which is our feature beer for this week. I wonder what the Bavarian representation thought of this, given that only breweries from Munich are officially allowed to supply Oktoberfest. Those guys at Trois Mousquetaires love their German beer styles, and for the most part they do a fine job. I would have to say, though, that there is a common taste to all their beers that strikes me as somewhat odd and that I would most closely associated with yeast.

Be that as it may, I did enjoy this beer, having had the opportunity to indulge in a mighty 750 ml bottle of what is billed as a strong beer on a fine fall day this weekend in the woods. As you can see below, it is a copper-reddish, unfiltered brew that builds a lovely foam head. It has a nice, caramel malt flavour that is also amazingly dry, and somehow this dryness is not entirely due to the well-balanced hop bitterness, which lingers subtly but affirmatively in the background. There is another acidic element contributing to the dryness of the palate, and I think it is the yeast, but I am not sure. Altogether, this well-balanced beer deserves to be downed in large quantities by all of you Oktoberfest maniacs out there. Ein Prosit!