Two Solid and Currently Available Beers!

Yes, I seek out obscure things; I trade for them, great travellers bring them for me, my vacations have a beer-seeking element to them, I try to get to beer events when I can whereupon I again seek the obscure.

Some of you share my obsession, yet others have said to me, "What about beers I can get?"

Well, many I have reviewed you can with a little effort, but my favourite recent Quebec tasting and a solid current Ontario offering deserve your purchase and praise, and can fairly easily be found to do so.

For Quebec, I have recently had the Gose from Les Trois Mousquetaires and found myself most impressed.  A gose is a salted and often soured witbeer, and this one impresses.  This cloudy 3.8% ABV sessionable version is fairly salty and citrusy, beginning with a light citrus nose and lemony taste complemented by a substantial salty finish that dries it out without excessive hops.  It is decently tart, yet quenching and very drinkable with a tingly effervescence, while the mere 3.8% means it can be downed all day!  Grade: A

Though I truly love Vices et Versa, I have found incorrect answers from their staff at times and their chalkboard called this "Gose/Berliner Weisse" though the staff at LTM assure me it is purely a gose.  So if you try this on draught there, be forewarned of this error!

That said, the LTM folks inform me that this seasonal offering is either on the shelves or will be within a week at Montreal locales like Depanneur Peluso, Rahman le Paradis de la Biere, Fromagerie Atwater and Metro Bellemare, while it is also currently on tap at Vices and Quebec's finer beer-bars.  Get it while you can!

For Ontario, Cameron's current RPA (Rye Pale Ale), available at the LCBO (in 650ml bottles for $6.95), is an under-marketed gem.  That is, you would err in judging a book by its cover for its under-designed label.  The beer itself, however, is much better crafted than the label!

This 6.6% ABV brew pours a hazy amber capped by a fluffy white head that exudes a superb citrus nose, with a fine spicy citrus taste complemented by a fair malt backbone.  Only faintly tingly and fairly heftily bodied, this is a very, very good example of the style and will be enjoyed by those who like hops, rye spice, and a malt-balanced PA.  Grade: A

There - now go get some and tell me what you think!  Did my reviews nail it, finding similar notes to those you did?  Did you also enjoy them?  Let me know!

'Til next time... cheers!