United Nations of Beer

Trois Mousquetaires Baltic porter

by Ashley Cotter-Cairns
(UNOB HQ)

Trois Mousquetaires Baltic porter (9.8% ABV)
Les Trois Mousquetaires, QC, Canada

Oh. My. God. Not only is there a TON of snow falling on Montreal (a record-breaking amount, according to various reports), but FINALLY I have found a porter which explains all the fuss made about this style of beer.

It happens in every aspect of a man's life. The first amazing sunset over mountains. The first bite of world-class food. The first truly mind-blowing blow job. And now, for me at least, the first really excellent porter-style beer.

Les Trois Mousquetaires Baltic porter pours a lot like a Guinness, with a creamy, velvet-smooth-appearing head (which, when you attack it, turns out to be fluffy and bubbly and not at all as smooth and silky as that classic Irish pint).

Unlike so many of the porters I've tried up to now, there's no real resemblance to Coke. Sure, it has a fizziness and it's black. But there, the similarity ends. Smell this pint and you get a noseful of plum pudding: dark fruits stored in a cool, dry place before being devoured.

Suitably enticed, you dive in and discover a rich, dark, warming beer. Trois Mousquetaires Baltic porter is no lightweight: at 9.8% ABV, this is a true winter warmer. It was very much needed on March 8th, 2008, when the record for snowfall in the Montreal region was finally broken. So much for global warming.

This beer has the ability to shorten even the longest of lengthy north-eastern winters. Cabin fever will be swept aside by a tsunami of coffee, prune, caramel and licorice flavours.

Surprising as it may seem, you won't taste too much of the strong alcoholic presence in this beer. It warms you from within but fails to spoil the aftertaste, a sweet, lingering memory of the complex tastes gone before. A superb seasonal beer.