Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Notes from my travels: Boréale Rousse


The choice for beer in Montreal is always between la blonde and la rousse. Personally, I have always enjoyed the Canadian Red beers: Rickards being a favourite. The Inter-Continental in Montreal stocked Boréale Rousse.

Boréale Rousse is one of six beers produced by a Quebec company, Les Brasseurs du Nord, which was set up in 1987 by three students who paid their way through university by selling beer. The company has expended hugely since then and now employs over 100 people; to the extent that you can’t really consider them a micro-brewery any more. They only sell their beer in the Province of Quebec.

Boréale Rousse is a coppery looking beer with a medium head. It tastes of caramel, nuts and malt but doesn’t really have a strong flavour of hops. It’s quite light for a Canadian red beer. Some people have commented that the more they sell the less distinctive it has become. Nevertheless we enjoyed a good few glasses before moving on to Absinthe!

4 comments:

  1. I must admit that if given the choice I tend towards darker beers as well, if only because in the real ale world they seem (to me) to be rarer and rarer as everyone follows the Summer Lightning/Landlord grail of light lager'ish looking bitters...

    When I started drinking 'proper' beer all those years ago my favourite (and first!) was a brew called "Royal Oak" (by Eldridge Pope, now sadly disappeared - don't be fooled by the poor copy with the same name you sometimes see around the place) that too was dark, and with an astonishingly fruity and nutty taste... sounds very similar to yours though I guess the caramel can become a bit wearing in quantity...

    Thanks for that ..appreciated..

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  2. Excellent choice in a Beer - I'm impressed. I still prefer a Belgian Chimay but Boreale Rousse is hard to beat.

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  3. I did drink Lager once (I was young, I didn't have any money) and for that I apologise.

    Matt

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  4. Well done Matt - gave my first chuckle of the day... oh the cr*p I used to drink when I first started out..... :o))

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