Nos. 144 & 145 – St. Ambroise Red & Black IPA

Nos. 144 & 145 – St. Ambroise Red & Black IPA

I spent about fifteen minutes at my local Métro wondering if I had already tried St. Ambroise Red before I admitted that I didn’t know and checked my list.  Thank God for the list.  I like lists.  Anyway, two more fine St. Ambroise beers from the McAuslan Brewery…

No. 144 – St. Ambroise Red

This beer looks gorgeous.  The lighting in the photo accentuates it a little, but there was red, amber, orange, brown, gold and a creamy head.  Gorgeous indeed, to the point that I was reluctant to drink it.  I did though.  It is smoother than other red ales I’ve tried so far and it reminded me somewhat of their cream ale, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.  I like a certain roughness or fizz in a red ale, which you don’t really get with this.  Then again, I’ve grown to love cream ales and smoother porters and stouts.  This beer I suppose bridges the gap.
 It gets a very good 8/11 for the following…
Being good, reasonably priced and accurate enough.
Having something different, drink-again-ability and recommend-ability.
And because I would go out of my way for this, even in a snowstorm.
8/11

No. 145 – St. Ambroise Black IPA

The first black IPA I have tasted as far as I recall.
Firstly, I really like the tin, it’s a small thing but to me it just looks cool.  The beer when poured looks really good as well, dark, almost like an oil painting.  Before tasting, I was trying to think of what a hopped up porter would taste like.  An immediate hoppy taste followed by chocolate and coffee hints.

I was right.
The hops are immediately evident but rather than a lighter, fruitier or even almost chemical taste following up (as I’ve had with other IPAs), there is a thicker smoother taste that you would expect with any porter.  This was a pleasant surprise.  On buying the beer, I had thought that I’d give it a go but I didn’t expect to like it.

It gets a solid 7/11 which is now average for porters and stouts.
It is…
Good, well-priced, accurate, different.
I would…
Drink it again, recommend it and go a block out of my way for it.
7/11

This has been a very good two weeks for beer tasting.  The St. Ambroise range so far are all pretty good.