La Voie Maltée - Session IPA (Série Frimée)


Back in June when I was on my bièrcation with Alex from Le Malt Incarné, we took a tour of rural southern Quebec, checking out places like Brasserie Dunham and various brewpubs in the region. We stopped at Marché du Village in Ange-Gardien, Quebec. According to Alex, this grocery store - in a small town no less - happened to have one of the best beer selections in all of Quebec. Not only that, they had a locked cabinet dedicated exclusively to aging beers (but unfortunately the person in charge of the beer aging display was not there).. oh and the super market also acted as the local SAQ agent as there wasn't a nearby SAQ, making this one of the best damned liquor/beer stores in all of Quebec! We spent about 20 minutes just going through beer, I was loopy as hell because I got minimal sleep that week, but I picked up as many beers as I possibly could carry. La Voie Maltée's Session IPA from their Série Frimée popped out at me, so I decided to pick a can of that up.

Appearance: The Session IPA tops out at a whopping 3.7%, making it a true session, not a "4.8%" session like many I see on the market already. As soon as I open the can, it's quite foamy - thick white head. The beer is a moderately cloudy and straw yellow/lemon peel.

Aroma: Decently hoppy and tropical. Notes of cascade hops giving it a nice pine aroma, bit of lemon grass and tropical notes of grapefruit, hint of pineapple and somewhat herbal. Very solid aroma.

Taste: Starts off with a bit of a gritty barley graininess followed by lemongrass, a moderate amount of cascade for hoppy bitterness. A light amount of soapy aftertaste, hint of nuttiness and a light amount of grapefruit citrusness. Good deal of various cereal bitterness lingering on the palate.

Overall Thoughts: Solid session IPA but I've never had a bad beer by La Voie Maltée so it's not a surprise at all! Even at 3.7%, they still packed in a good deal of hops in the brew - to the point where I'm getting a moderate hop burn in my throat!

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