Messorem Bracitorium: Haze Hype Right Off the Hop

   

Earlier this year, news of Messorem Bracitorium's pending opening excited me for multiple reasons: their location near my home, their style focus on the trends we geeks lose our minds for, and the breweries at which their brewers wet their chops (Auval, Pit Caribou, Les Trois Mousquetaires). Apparently I was not alone, as this is likely the most-hyped brewery opening in Quebec since Auval.

But with beer, I'm a realist and the reality is that most new breweries promise the moon, but fail to deliver. I mean, I'm not trying to be a snob, but I'm just not interested in drinking even decent beer any longer. There's enough great beer out there that I feel opening in this market necessitates coming hard or heading home. You NEED to make a name for yourself, hit the styles most consumed (I mean, beer geek or casual beer drinker, many thrive on the IPA), or expect to struggle whenever the herd is culled.

And, though I am told that Messorem wishes to emulate the strengths of the breweries they love - Grimm and Other Half, for their explicitly stated examples - I'd also like to brew like Shaun Hill and it really ain't that easy.

So despite my hope, I needed to see the evidence, especially since so many struggle to scale on new equipment, with canning lines, with the ropes of running the show, etc.

Yet, they "opened" with a bang. I mean, they aren't "officially" opened, having "soft openings" for over a month now, with limited hours, but they hit the ground running with solid beers most critiqued for being "a little green." There is an irony to even posting this now, since anyone in the know has already grabbed cans, swapped for some, or crushed some pints on site, but nonetheless here's my take on all five cans so far (with an extra shout-out to the unreviewed draught-only, but much enjoyed Couper l'Herbe Sous le Pieds and Touche. Tombe.).

In order of release...

 OK l'Enfer (Ekuanot, Simcoe Cryo DDH IPA @ 6% ABV, from Week 1) pours a cloudy yellow with a quickly receding and low-moderate head, but a trace remains atop with fair glass lacing. The nose is bright and fruity, offering mango, pineapple, and citrus. The taste is a touch sweet up front, though it finishes somewhat sharply. It has a bone dry linger, that is a touch astringent, but the slightly low-end effervescence complements the grainy, weighty, pureed smoothie mouthfeel that gives this an edge. At two weeks on (at the time of detailed assessment), this remains a bit green, but it may be the bold notes of "lupulin burn" cryo hops rather than a greenness at all. A fine beer, especially for a first offering!  Grade: B+

Brain Dead (Amarillo, Chinook, Cascade, Citra APA @ 5% ABV from Week 2). I gotta tell you: this beer is fire!  Some have noted oxidized cans of late online and some breweries do have issues with initial canning processes, but my allotment didn't last long enough to discover this outcome. (The lighting in the outdoor pic below may appear slightly oxidized, but see the pic at the bottom of the article to see the thick cloudy brightness of this beer at its best!)

This is one cloudy, thick looking mofo, presenting an almost milky-hazy yellow, the apparent viscosity of unfiltered non-alcoholic apple cider. It is likewise capped by a slight white head that dissipates quickly as it is pretty sharply carbonated. Here, the aroma wafts lemon rind, papaya, under ripe berries. Taste and feel combine in the mouth to be a bit sharp with a fairly bitter linger some may describe as

lupulin burn, but that I far prefer to a sweet linger even in other haze-cans I still imbibe on the regular. It is sharp, but the body has a richness on the tongue that gives some depth to this bold finish. It is much drier than HYPAs from Brasserie du Bas Canada and with a deeper complexity and balance than most IPA, let alone APA in the province. Still a touch green a week after sale, but safely worth the price of entry and a bold promise of things to come. I gotta say, I rarely buy APA in Quebec as so few compete with the best IPA, but this is likely the best APA in the Province IMO. My 4 cans and the, hmmm, 5 pints I have had on site have only strengthened this assessment. Grade: A (for style, as I might enjoy the OK l'Enfer as much but it has bolder competition) 

  Ces Magiciens (Amarillo Cryo, Cashmere, Citra DDH Sour IPA @ 7.2% ABV).

It's unclear to me - is a dry-hopped sour the same as a sour IPA (as long as they're kettle-soured)? I mean, I can't imagine the difference, but I often tend to enjoy but not love this style, with some exceptions. "WAIT," you say, "isn't that every style?" Well yes, but even trusted breweries struggle to hit this out of the park IMO, and this is no different.

Ces Magiciens follows the trend of an orange-hued haze monster, though the minimal head seems to linger a bit longer atop this one. Aromatically, it is dominated by wave after wave of lemon. The taste has a sour apple thing going on but is otherwise a bit non-descript for me, being of mild tartness with minimal character. I mean, the hops and sourness are well blended and balanced, but as neither is bold, they almost cancel each other into an easy drinking experience. And that's a good thing - but not what wows me about the best in the style that assault my senses with waves of candied fruit and a depth beyond what I got here.  It's fine, good even, just not earth-shattering. Grade: B
 


 
Get Wavy (Citra, Galaxy, Vic Secret DDH DIPA @ 8.5% ABV) arrives in the glass with a slightly more orange hue than those above, but remains hazy (if less cloudy than Brain Dead). Fair white head lasts longer with the least apparent carbonation of those above. For me, the nose is dominated by tangerine, oranges, a touch of lime zest, with varied citrus fruits all the way. There is a touch more sweetness here, though it is still balanced against the finish. That said, it is far drier than a BBC DIPA. Though this dropped a shade greener than the (as yet) uncanned "Touche. Tombe" (or single IPA, Couper l'Herbe Sous le Pied), it offers no real lupulin burn or astringency, finishing dryly, but lingering more with a juicy finish than a sharp one. (And "green" cans are fine with me - drink'em next week if you prefer!) The feel is not so much thicker than on the others, even for a stronger brew, but that isn't a slight as they have been nailing this aspect of their beers so far. Another solid offering. Grade: B+/A-








7 Pieds Sous Terre (Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe DDH IPA @ 7% ABV) excites before launch. I mean, those are three exciting hops! And, I am happy to say this doesn't disappoint, nor does it sell out on launch-day! (As I write this cans remain available for pickup after noon Tuesday even though they are closed for other service).

In the glass, 7 Pieds shows off a cloudy orange-tinged copper-yellow, atop which rests a characteristic slight white head that again dissipates quickly with no real lacing. Dankness on the nose is coupled with some lemon rind, pineapple, and papaya. I get similar fruits on the nose with some additional strawberries qualities, while the hops presents almost a tannic bite as it switches to a drier more bitter finish than most other top tier NEIPA in the province. I gotta say, this pairs really, really well with these trendy Beyond Meat burgers (and with a real burger as well, but oddly a tiny bit less so) - a match made in heaven. Alongside a medium-full, almost creamy smooth mouthfeel and fairly low carbonation that contributes to that round softness, this works well in the mouth and is well executed all around.  Their best IPA yet. Grade: A-/A





Messorem is currently open only Thursdays through Sundays at varying times (check their website for details), with an opening event still pending, but their beer, gear, location, site, and promise leave me excited for what's to come!

Bank Hotel: A Nearly Religious Experience

I don't even know where I am going to go with this post, except for a vague idea and, moreover, this post is only tangentially about Brasserie du Bas-Canada's marvelous IPA or the brewery itself (though I will review the former and nod to the latter).

This post, rather, is about an experience.

Early in my craft adventure, I read a few books (Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher and another I have forgotten). I remember, when discussing things to consider when assessing a beer, someone speaking not just of balance, style, etc, but also of the experience; that the best beer was the one with the best story, the one at a memorable time and place.

This is my best story, though again please note that as I've noted before about this blogs' purpose, these notes may be a better story personally than they are for others. And, I'm not sure I have the words to capture what this means to me intellectually. Nonetheless, here goes...

Remember that dress? The "what-color-is-that-dress" dress? Personally, I had seen that dress as purplish-blue and black and could not, for the life of me, understand how in the hell it could be seen otherwise... until I found a gif that slowly lightened and darkened the image. Suddenly, not only could I now see it as white and gold, but I could no longer see it as blue and black and couldn't even understand how I had seen it another way in the first place!

As a social theorist, I am deeply interested in discourse and the role of shared systems of signs that shape our perspectives on reality, on cosmology, on epistemology. Our discourses shape what we can perceive in the world, how we perceive it, and what takes on the appearance of truth, on what terms.

When I set out on my craft journey... shit, even when I started this blog... I was clueless, but while my perspective has evolved through the 5000-odd beers I have rated or reviewed, I know more, yet get stuck in discourses where I presume a perception to be (my own personal but nonetheless personally) factual experience. Yeah, yeah, palate fatigue or contamination exist, but barring those I almost always experience beers the same in every moment of consumption.

To put this another way, my discourse - my beer-geek discourse - shapes my experience, usually in ways I think of as better than the alternative.

So... what the fuck am I talking about, already?!?!?

I mean, if this is about Bank Hotel, my discourse MUST have come from the hype around this BBC brew and I must be saying I was tricked into liking it until I broke free?

Nope.

I thought I'd love it, and when visiting the brewpub a few weeks back (despite a pending trade bringing me a can that night), I filled a flight with several options including this exciting NEIPA.

I smelled it... and all I smelled was banana. I tasted it... and all I tasted was banana. I hate banana.

I didn't finish my pour. I drank the rest.

That night, alone in my hotel room - watching the Klaw, Spicy P, and Steady Freddy drop a surprise game one victory on the Warriors - I probably cracked more cans than I should have. And being a beer geek I wanted to mix it up and assess the can vs draught difference on this beer.

Once again, I smelled it... and all I smelled was banana.  I tasted it... and all I tasted was banana. I hate banana.

But I dug in. Remember, sometimes it takes more than a sample to get to a beer.

Someone sunk a three pointer (was it Green or VV? I forget now) and I sipped some more... and again a few minutes later...

And it clicked. Something changed.

I could no longer smell banana.

I could no longer taste banana.

There was a complexity that a smell (likely linked to memory) had blocked me from observing. As our smells can suggest, it made this beer into my colour-changing dress; I was blinded and unable to observe its nuance, but distracted from my presumptions, it changed. From that moment and for the remainder of the can (and the other can I have had since), its consumption was otherworldly, delightful, quasi-religious. I can't really put into words the uniqueness of this experience, but it was a night-and-day shift that my brain had entirely created going from dislike to love of a beer, and it is beyond my capacity to properly express - try though I may.

The nose offers an insane complexity for an IPA, for a two-hop (Sabro-Citra) IPA
at that. (Sabro has been called the new Citra, and Citra has been called "the cheating hop" as it's allegedly easy to get good flavour profiles with - but trust me, as a homebrewer, you still need to nail your recipe!) It wafts a depth of notes beyond what one could expect: I get tangerine, rind, grapefruit, pineapple, mango, melon, strawberries, flowers, and hint of mint, in varying moments as if the beer evolves before your nose.

In the mouth, it is similarly tropical, fruity, and floral with a touch more sharp bitterness than the HYPAs, yet somehow also offering greater balance alongside a substantial and supportive body. The carbonation is a touch sharper than I'd generally seek in the style, and yet its heft works with it.

Dammit this beer is good. It might be the best IPA in Quebec. Perhaps the best in the country. Perhaps as good as anything coming out of Trillium, or Bissell, or Treehouse, or Foam, or Hill... though I haven't had the opportunity to side-by-side and, moreover, beer is an experience... a moment...

And it's that moment I wish to return to. A moment so telling, not just of this beer but of the tricks our minds (perhaps triggered by aroma memories) play on us. A moment that flipped in a way I could no longer comprehend, nor have predicted.

I could no longer smell or taste bananas, as I could no longer see a blue-black dress.

In 5000-ish different beers, I have never had such a light-switch flip. It may sound hyperbolic or be hard to relate to, but for an atheist, this was like a religious moment for it was simultaneously both a switch from dislike to immense love (and regret that this experience would soon end), and also a switch from my perceived subjective (but objectively 'factual') assessment of the beer into a new horizon - a way beyond the limitations of my conscious mind, if you will.

Perhaps it was the distraction of the game that led me beyond the thoughts, memories, and perceptions that kept my appreciation at bay, but whatever it was...

I don't recall now whether it was Mosher or someone else who said that the best beer is the experience, the one you will always remember for its time, its place.

In 5000 unique beers, I'd never had this. On experience alone, this moment was the best beer I have ever had.

And while BBC often gets called great with a slight criticism of thinness or sweetness to their IPAs, this breaks that mold with a balance and depth I tip my hat to.

It isn't the best beer I have ever had objectively speaking (and whatever that means, Art, I'm looking at you), but it was my personal best experience for the intellectual challenge and perceptive delight it brought me, it was a new horizon, and it was oddly the closest to my conception of 'god' and the exposure of the effective pervasiveness and limitations of our own perceptions in a way I doubt I'll ever repeat (with beer), though I can repeat the beer and recapture that love nonetheless.

Cheers BBC, thanks for this moment, and WAY TO GO RAPS! (And Kawhi, if you stay, I'll send you a Bank Hotel come the next drop!)

Craft Beer Predictions for 2019

Like most predictive posts, this one has serious belief twinged with hyperbolic projection. Nonetheless, I thought I'd share some of my visions of the coming year in craft beer.

Prediction 1: People will start to realize that milkshakes and bruts are no substitute for the hazy successor to the American IPA.

It ain't really about the haze, it's about the juice, but NEIPA aren't going anywhere. Brut and Milkshakes though? I know very few people who even like these styles at all or much, and certainly nowhere near the numbers of those who <3 the West Coast and New England versions of the American IPA. Yeah, maybe I just want milkshakes to die, and maybe they won't entirely. Nonetheless, though, I maintain that in five years we'll look back on them as we currently reflect on the Black IPA - even though those were far superior to all but the best milkshakes.

Prediction 2:  Before the milkshake madness ends, someone will brew a milkshake zwickel/keller/kölsch or some equally ridiculous nonsense contaminating a clean and/or Reinheitsgebot style.

I mean, it may well be a DDH zwickel (or gruit?!?!) or some other wacky pursuit of the new, but it will be a failure nonetheless.

In fact, it's likely to come from some brewery who pumps out 700 new beers annually rather than perfecting a current one.

Yeah, this prediction is half facetious... but only half. I mean, how far from beer can we go? How far from style? (Don't get me wrong of course: it is in innovation and transformation that new styles are born and I truly applaud this when done thoughtfully.) As much as I abhor sounding like those non-craft drinkers who lament craft beer for allegedly 'not tasting like beer' (when they have no historical understanding of the styles that predate their beloved corn-syrup-fueled race-to-the-bottom macro lager), but how far from beer will we go? Can we simply make good beer, not weird limited beer and try to focus on that?

Speaking of which...

Prediction 3: Brasserie Auval will release yet another great beer, alongside several decent but immensely overvalued ones.

While brewmaster Ben Couillard is an excellent brewer and while all of his products are at least solid (though I am not sure I understand Braggot or even Double Nordet), there is no perfect brewer. Yes, even Shaun Hill and Jean Van Roy have released products below their legendary bests.

Auval has some tremendous beers (*cough* Trifolium, Nordet, Grisettes *cough*) and the rest are generally good to very good (saisons, fruited sours, Super A), while a few are simply fine. They certainly beat many a shelf beer, even at their worst, yet that gets to the crux of the matter: the fact that they aren't found on shelves in Quebec's largest market converges nicely with a trend in craft beer that I hate - the ongoing pursuit of the rarest/newest beer over the best.

Don't get me wrong, I also seek new untappd beers and badges (and once foolishly traded Fou'Foune for a pastry stout), and appreciate the chance to buy a rare product, but a product shouldn't be seen as great or more valuable BECAUSE it's harder to get, but rather because it is superior (which then legitimately boosts value in conjunction with scarcity). I'm not saying Auval's product is all hype - much isn't - but the after-market value on these beers needs to simmer down.

The result here is decent beers (in abundance in some parts of the province) being traded for epic rarities of greater value (in cost, scarcity, and quality terms) because of uneven distribution compounded by beer geek overhype. If you think I'm wrong, Trifolium hit Montreal at 1 per person and sold out before launch due to massive lines, while a guy I entered in trade discussions with claims to have brought 48 bottles from the Gaspé and wanted BA Hill Farmstead for each one... AND THAT IS ONE OF THE GREAT AUVAL BEERS.

Hence, the other crucial part of my prediction: Auval will launch a great beer, but trading for it and 4 others at that price to determine which is the one perhaps worth the cost of entry is evidence of flawed perceptions - with no disrespect to a phenomenal brewer.

Prediction 4: Everyone will (pretend to be) shocked when ____________ sells to a macro.

I have no inside scoop, beyond any oft-repeated rumours, but you can fill in the blank and rest assured that as craft continues to boom, the macros will continue to pursue shelf, tap, and brand dominance with dollar figures that may be a pittance to them but offer lifetime security for the owners of small operations and their families.

Don't blame the seller though, blame the system. By that, I mean capitalism.

Prediction 5: My cellar will continue to grow despite my best intentions to shrink it - and I will not be alone.

Somehow I've got like 400 bottles/cans in my cellar. This was never the intention, and I've even now had beers go bad. Further, despite periodic attempts to keep the inventory up to date and to avoid spoilage, the reality of working/parent life keeps things from getting dwindled.

The chaos began when I'd have a chance to buy something like 48 PMB and I'd buy 48 (or more realistically 24). Then I'd drink and trade 12 and accumulations would ensue.

During the past 2 years or so, I have reduced my RIS purchases, for example, from 4+ bottles to 2 of high quality product (one to drink and one to age) or sometimes just one, but it bodes well for craft beer that there are simply more quality offerings to select.

When I moved to Quebec in 2012, there really was one imperial stout worth buying and so I'd hoard that BA delight. But now, there are many and I have switched from buying too many of one beer to buying one of far too many beers.

I don't know if this is a condition and therapeutic confession, but it is a warning: don't let good beer rot.


Anyway, I wish you all a happy new year, a frothy new beer, and nothing but the best in 2019. Cheers!