Charlevoix Vache Folle ESB

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Blonde yellowish appearance with a thick, creamy head, maybe a bit much. Has some floral and citrus aromes. Hops are nice and strong. Lacing appears thick, and lots. Mouthfeel is milky, a bit of bitterness and some malts. Smooth going down. Pretty refreshing.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Beautiful looking brew, peachy copper body thick crown and lovely roapy lacing. Aroma is granny smith apple, roasted malt with a bitter twinge, and some faint hops the whole thing comes across to mild. Watery malt flavour, sweet hard candy and a hidden sour apple makes brief appearances. Good beer to drink I guess has a unique flavour but nothing to special.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Great form, large head with great retention (a consistency from this brewer! Kudos) A sunset golden orangy colour. Very crisp hops with assertive bitterness. Some citruis hits in the back of the mouth (mild grapefruity hops) Seems to rest heavily on the hop bitterness which gives a heavy, heavy weight to it, very damp and filling. Also makes it almost like an off Pale Ale at times. Hops also keep a lively aroma. Some slight metallic notes maybe? Clean finish, no unwanted aftertaste. Stays crisp. This is a neat little cross-style ESB, and a good one too!

*I notice my bottle has on its label "Biere Rousse" and "Amber Beer". What the hell is it with Quebec and fitting all their beers as either biere blond, biere brune, or biere rousse? Does every beer have to fall under this colour system...?

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

1/2 liter bottle ( thanks Francois) puts a lush, clouded orange colored ale in my glass ,reminiscent of liquid buck wheat honey. A medium pour staks the glass with an enormous frothy- sticky light tan cap which lingers to the end of the drink. Fantastic lacing! Light aromas of musty fruit and honey with a grassy hop tone. Medium bodied, silky mouth feel. The tastes are husky cramel-malts up front which battles with the palate for dominance with ample piney resinous hops. Mid drink the hops win and take over as a dominent bittering floods the finish . A very substantial and satifying ESB.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Purchased at Dépanneur de la Rive in Cap-Rouge, Quebec in September 2005. Pours a cloudy amber-beige colour with a big fat off-white creamy head. The retention is very heavy and long with big chunky foam lacing. Hoppy, earthy and floral notes for the aroma. Smooth mouthfeel and medium-bodied. The taste is a good mix of caramel malt with a good punch in the mouth, from the hop. Not crazy bitter, but great taste of hop for sure. Great brew for hop lovers !

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

What a great ESB...A nice amber color with a huge head and great lacing.Aroma it's malt and hops a plenty,flavor we can feel the yeast ,the malt and definitely the bitterness full of floral notes, this is a great pleasure to drink...And as a joke on the label they said that this beer is now avalaible in USA.no more problem with Canadian cow now...

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

I've been quite impressed with the selection of Québécois ales that I've been able to sample recently, and this is certianly no exception. Seems to comes across to me as an English-style Ale with distinct and definite Franco-Belgian highlights -- and altogether interesting, from start to finish.

I highly suspect that the bottle I received lost it's label, since the bottle featured a swatch of duct-tape and the beer's name written in ball-point pen. Popped the cap, and quite a bit of carbonation escaped with a mist. Over-carbonated? No, this was just fine when poured into my Granville Island 500mL Nonick glass.

Standard yeast-derived English Ale esters in the nose, with perhaps hints of some spice in the mix as well. Flavor wise, this immediately came across to me as a well made Bass clone. But then..., what's this? Hints of some complexity in the mix? Perhaps some "farm-house" funkiness in the middle and backend? And a little warming as it goes down? The plot thickens....

As it warms, the Franco-Belgian slant takes on more meaning, as this seems to slowly evolve from an English Pale Ale/ESB, and more towards an Belgian Pale Ale -- never quite getting there, but hovering in the pleasant middle-ground between those two styles.

My heart's been broken over ESB's ever since Redhook apparently took a match to their old recipe, and Fuller's ESBs are generally old and mishandled. But with something this nice and enjoyable, my faith in the style is renewed. :)
//TB

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Bottle: Poured an hazy amber color ale with a bit foamy head with better then average retention. Aroma of floral hops and big malt is easily noticeable. Taste is bigger and stronger then your average English bitter with some lots bitter hops and a full body. Does not stay within the style limit but is very enjoyable nonetheless.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This pours burnt orange w/ a huge dirty white head. The flavor is slightly sweet & malty up front with a dry finish. It’s an easy drinking brew.