I promise never to say anything bad about Canada again. For our Chinese New Year party, my colleague Isabelle brought her partner Antoine, who brought bottles of wine and six bottles of beer from his favorite brewery in Montreal.
Beer: Trois Pistoles.
Brewery: Unibroue.
Appearance: Deep, dark body, substantial foamy head.
Aroma: Pleasant fruity, cherry-like aroma.
Flavor: Mostly caramel at first, then dried fruits and brown sugar as you slosh the beer around in your mouth, then a slight bittersweet aftertaste.
Summary: Stellar beer with complex flavors. When you pour it out wait for the almost purply lees at the bottom. Best drink lots of water afterwards, for this puppy is nine percent alcohol, and comes in a 750 ml bottle. (The label -- name in Fraktur, a dark winged horse over a church -- looks like something off an Emperor album.) In a word: delicious.
Rating: **** (four stars)