United Nations of Beer

Rousse d'Hiver

by Ashley Cotter-Cairns
(UNOB HQ)

Rousse d'Hiver beer
Freres Houblon, QC, Canada
Visit the UNOB's Quebec beer guide
Check out our Christmas beer round-up!

When is a porter not a porter? When it's a red ale! Our 12 Beers of Christmas series continues with a limited edition beer from Freres Houblon of Quebec. With no more than 2,000 bottles being produced, should you rush out and cellar a caseful?



In short, probably not, but Rousse d'Hiver is quite an unusual beer. Top of its bizarre charms is the colour. It's so dark red, it's almost black. Couple to that the porter-style fizz as you pour it (resembling a Coke from up to two feet away) and the lack of head and you have one strange brew.

Enough of the oddness of this beer. Is it any good? Yes and no. At first sniff, you'll be enchanted by the mix of coffee, toffee and pepper notes. Porter all over again.

Once you take a gobful, this nature changes just a bit. It's definitely more fruity than a regular porter and so the amber nature of this very dark red beer becomes apparent.

This is most obvious in the burned caramel malt taste you get in abundance when you swig it.

The scent of pepper apparent in the nose is replicated when you drink, but thankfully for everybody's sanity, Houblon resisted the urge to 'winterise' this beer further by the addition of cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg (at least, in any silly quantities that would have you reaching for the sick bucket).

Rousse d'Hiver is definitely a spiced ale, but it's not overdone, overspiced or overzealously 'wintry'. But I am not really a major fan of this beer, despite my good reaction to it.

After drinking an entire bottle, I have to report first that the gassiness of the beer makes it quite difficult to finish even one of the 2,000 pint-ish sized containers this brew is limited to.

It lacks any kind of variety, so unless you're a big fan of the taste, nothing is going to improve as you continue to drink. The aftertaste doesn't evolve. It is what it is.

And if what it is suits you, sir, than you will be sad when the edition is sold out. I for one won't miss it, but it is WAY nicer than Snoreau. Mind you, so is root canal work.

This beer scores Eight Maids a-Milking on the 12 Beers of Christmas index.