Brasseurs du temps: L'Allumante

You gotta love the explosion of craft breweries and brewpubs in Canada's capital region and Brassuers du temps was one of the first (and in my mind one of the best) in the area. They usually have a dozen or so beers on tap at the brewpub in old Hull, a rotating selection of the 25+ beers they make (their website lists 27) so you will always get the chance to try something new.  With so many different beers available I had to choose something to review (a difficult task) so I decided to go with the allumante, a really interesting and complex nut brown ale. 

For a nut brown ale, it is quite fruity, I instantly noted a banana and hazelnut flavour when I took my first sip.  Maybe that was because the person sitting next to me was drinking their banana flavoured beer and the smell wafted over, but it caught me off guard.  In terms of texture it is pretty malty, but it is really smooth and the hazelnut and fruit notes really come out during the course of the sip.   It does have a bit of a watery middle to it, but that is not enough to negatively impact the overall impression of the beer, but it finishes with a nice hoppy/bitter kick to it, a reminder that it is not a traditional brown.  I was a bit worried that they would fall into the trap of making the beer too sweet, as a lot of commercial brown ales are, but they really kept the sweetness to a minimum.   It is more of a hybrid between an English brown ale and a Belgian brune, and they really pull it off nicely.  Creativity is something BDT do really well and this is a great creation of theirs.

It's available on draught and in bottles at their brewpub and retail store in the old Hull part of Gatineau.  For those who like hockey it is a 10 minute walk from the Robert-Guertin Arena, the home of the Gatineau Olympiques so you can go to BDT for your pre-game beers. 

Rating: 4.5 Steins

What you need to know

Brewpub and retail store
170 rue Montcalm,
Gatineau, QC
J8X 2M2

Website
http://www.brasseursdutemps.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/LesBrasseursDuTemps

Twitter
@BrasseursDT
@BrasseursDT_eng