My wife goes out for a bachelorette (or a hen party, if you prefer), and what do I do with my solo evening in? Watch Ronin? Play guitar for 5 hours straight? Sit on the balcony smoking a cigar and reading a book? Ogle a Victoria’s Secret catalogue? Sear’s catalogue? No. I do a beer review. But I needed to get a monkey off my back. If you’ve been following this blog or my life in general, you’ll know I took a day trip last August, to Montreal with a dear friend, and came down with pneumonia on my way home. Well, this is the last bottle that I bought on that trip. To be fair, I generally wouldn’t review a beer that I had possessed for nearly a year (and is, according to the date stamp, actually over a year old). But this 8.5% high IBU beer held up fine in the ensuing 10 months. Perhaps it doesn’t taste the same as new, but it is quite nice and very interesting. So let’s do this and leave that spot of pneumonia behind us for good.
IPA Impériale - Microbrasserie du Lièvre
From a gorgeous 1 litre swing-top bottle with nothing but a neck hanger on it with a brewed-on date stamped in it, the beer pours a murky reddish brown, with a 1/2″ dense head that dropped to a light film. Aroma is boozy and malty, sweet and carmelly, with a nice yeasty spicy note to it. Hops are there, but quite tame, which might be a function of age, more than anything. Taste is actually sweet and dense, but with a coffee-like bitterness, and some woody notes. Hops are much more present on the palate, tannin-dry, with a resinous, nearly pine tasting bite. The beer is a little hot with an alcohol bite, but it holds up well with the sweet malts, and the hoppy dry finish. The linger is a combination of a bit of warmth on the back of your throat and a dry hops. Just lovely. A definite slow-sipper, perfect for a chill evening in, with the smokey aroma of BBQ wafting through the window. The complexity of the beer hides the fact that it’s actually a fairly heavy bodied beer. I’ll be amazed when I finish this litre….. Which I will, it’s just lovely. I hope to find more beers from Microbrasserie du Lièvre when I finally make it back to Montreal.
Sante, Microbrasserie du Lièvre!
Brewery Information
Brewing in the Upper Laurentians in Mount-Laurier since 1999, Microbrasserie du Lièvre was started as a tourist attraction in the Sabourin family motel. As they went through the process of getting licensed, they realized it would be easy to distribute through the usual channels of beer in Quebec. Brewmaster Joseph Sabourin produces about a dozen beers, as well as some seasonals, a very respectable number. Included in the selection are a white beer with absinthe, a carrot beer, and a jalapeno beer. Definitely need to get more from this brewer!
http://www.microdulievre.com/en/microbrasserie-du-lievre.html
