Schoune Maple Ale

[lister]

Since I have a sweet tooth and an aversion to bitterness I tend to seek out the sweeter beers out there. I enjoy the flavour of maple and have tried several maple beers over the years. Upper Canada Maple Wheat is the weakest one I've had. It follows in the same footsteps as Sleeman's "Where's the honey?" Honey Brown. The maple is but a mere wisp, a rumour, something that lurks in the dark shadows and stays there in fear of revealing itself. Northern Red Maple is better, something I get now and then, but it still lacks maple in the forefront. I surprisingly enjoyed Church Key's Cranberry Maple despite the cranberry taste. I hate cranberries! I like the bottled form and what was on-tap at Smokeless better than what was at Church Key's Spring Festival. Over time I guess the cranberry flavour weakens and the maple flavours stands out more. Nice and mellow. I tried Niagara Honey Brown Maple Wheat about a month or so ago and it falls into the Sleeman/Upper Canada category. The last maple beer that I drank was in Montreal at Brutopia, their Maple Rousse which was watery, thin and had a wisp of maple flavour. (I've got a writeup on the trip but I'm still deciding on whether or not to post it.)

While in Montreal on the Victoria long weekend we visited Marche Rahman and I discovered another maple beer, Schoune Maple Ale. Delighted at finding another maple beer I bought a bottle (amongst lots of bottles of other beer.) Sampling finally started in earnest this past weekend. I had the Schoune whilst out digging out sections of a backyard in the sun and warmish weather. I must say, that's the first maple beer which smacks you in the face with maple flavour. No careful and repeated tastings here trying in vain to find it, the flavour dances across the sweet section of your tongue, gives a sloppy wet kiss and dives down your throat. What isn't noticeable in the bottle is that it looks like a light unfiltered beer (it probably isn't) that has little brown flecks in it which presumably give the strong maple taste. It makes for a great dessert beer or a nice break between the more usual bitter beers or for oddballs like me who like their beer usually sweeter than normal.

I'm quite pissed off with myself for only bringing back one bottle. Any importers out there planning on bringing in some Schoune?

[GregClow]

Any importers out there planning on bringing in some Schoune?

When I visited the Schoune brewery in the summer of 2002, I was told that they were talking to a rep/agent in Ontario, and planned to start sales in Ontario with their Blanche de Quebec. Obviously, this never happened.

Maybe we can convince Ralph at Volo or Joe at Smokeless to bring in some of their beers?

The only qualm I would have is that they have appearently had some infection problems with their beers in the past. I was lucky that none of the beers I bought when I was there seemed to suffer this fate, but several ratings of their beers on RateBeer from 2003/04 mention this issue.

[lister]

When I visited the Schoune brewery in the summer of 2002, I was told that they were talking to a rep/agent in Ontario, and planned to start sales in Ontario with their Blanche de Quebec. Obviously, this never happened.

Out of morbid curiousity I looked up where the brewery was on Google Maps. GAH! We drove past it on the way back! It looks to be 15-30 minutes off of highway 20. I was so tempted to crack the bottle open while there too...

Maybe we can convince Ralph at Volo or Joe at Smokeless to bring in some of their beers?

I haven't been to Volo yet though I plan to finally drop by on a late June weekend sometime. I usually visit Smokeless several times a month so I'll bring it up with Joe if he's there.

The only qualm I would have is that they have appearently had some infection problems with their beers in the past. I was lucky that none of the beers I bought when I was there seemed to suffer this fate, but several ratings of their beers on RateBeer from 2003/04 mention this issue.

Since that sort of thing puts a damper on sales you'd think they'd have that problem squashed.

[GregClow]

Out of morbid curiousity I looked up where the brewery was on Google Maps. GAH! We drove past it on the way back! It looks to be 15-30 minutes off of highway 20.

More like 10 minutes, I think. We stopped in on the way to Montreal, and ended up drinking so much of what we bought while we were in Montreal that we made another stop to pick up more on the way back!

Anyone who is driving to Montreal for the festival this coming weekend should consider stopping at Schoune.

[lister]

If anyone from Toronto decides to stop by Schoune, would you be willing to haul back 24 bottles of the maple ale? Aside from the obvious reimbursement I'll give you five bottles of Sgt Major's IPA and four bottles of Unibroue's Trois Pistoles or if those two brews aren't your fancy some extra $$$ for your troubles.

[inertiaboy]

If anyone from Toronto decides to stop by Schoune

Nuts! My sister and brother-in-law from Toronto were just in town yesterday and we made a beer run to La Trappe a Fromage in Gatineau. Funnily enough, Yves picked up a sixer of Schoune Maple... It sounds like you are having a little bit of bad luck with timing and location with this beer

[Bobbyok]

The only qualm I would have is that they have appearently had some infection problems with their beers in the past. I was lucky that none of the beers I bought when I was there seemed to suffer this fate, but several ratings of their beers on RateBeer from 2003/04 mention this issue.

A bit of an aside, but last year at the Mondial Festival in Montreal described Schoune as the brewery that kept infecting their beers until they got the right strain for a Gueuze! Maybe now that they actually have one, they've cleaned up the other beers.

[inertiaboy]

the brewery that kept infecting their beers until they got the right strain for a Gueuze

I picked up a bottle of this at Metro Joanette a month of so ago and was actually pleasantly surprised. While I'd hardly classify it as a gueuze (it was much too sweet and not from Payottenland!), it was a nice change. But at $6 for a 341ml bottle, I don't think it will become a regular purchase.

[lister]

Nuts! My sister and brother-in-law from Toronto were just in town yesterday and we made a beer run to La Trappe a Fromage in Gatineau. Funnily enough, Yves picked up a sixer of Schoune Maple... It sounds like you are having a little bit of bad luck with timing and location with this beer

Figures. Yeah that's the story of my life. You know what? It's worse than that. You mentioned Metro Joanette in your other post. That was our first stop on the way to the hotel on the Friday of the long weekend. After finally finding the place we wandered around inside and came across the beer shelves... which... were... all... empty! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I stood dumbfounded in disbelief. I read the English printout saying that they got in a spat with the SAQ for importing a Western Canadian beer and was ordered to remove everything from the shelves!

If I had been able to buy a case of it I likely would have sampled one that night and then got more later.

[JerCraigs]

the brewery that kept infecting their beers until they got the right strain for a Gueuze

I picked up a bottle of this at Metro Joanette a month of so ago and was actually pleasantly surprised. While I'd hardly classify it as a gueuze (it was much too sweet and not from Payottenland!), it was a nice change. But at $6 for a 341ml bottle, I don't think it will become a regular purchase.

Count yourself lucky, they were charging close to that much for a SAMPLE at Mondial. Gee lets think, a big honkin generous pour of Dieu du Ciel beers for 2 tickets, or a miserly sample of schoune for 2+ ....

[GregClow]

But at $6 for a 341ml bottle, I don't think it will become a regular purchase.

Count yourself lucky, they were charging close to that much for a SAMPLE at Mondial. Gee lets think, a big honkin generous pour of Dieu du Ciel beers for 2 tickets, or a miserly sample of schoune for 2+ ....

Well damn, I got a nice big sample of their gueuze for FREE when I visited the brewery! They had tapped a small keg of it a couple of nights before for a beer & cheese event, and had a bit left. They also had some of the freaking awesome locally made goat cheese that it was paired with at the event, so we got a real treat.

I recall enjoying it a lot, but this was around three years ago when I didn't really know what a gueuze was, so it may have been a lousy example of the style. But paired with that goat cheese... oh baby.

[esprit]

We were Scoune's agent in Ontario for a while and submitted a number of their products to the LCBO for consideration for the seasonal programs....all were rejected and, as usual, with no reason given so we pretty much just gave up.

[lister]

We were Scoune's agent in Ontario for a while and submitted a number of their products to the LCBO for consideration for the seasonal programs....all were rejected and, as usual, with no reason given so we pretty much just gave up.

[Steve Beaumont]

Hey lister, I may -- emphasize "may" -- hit Schoune on the way in or out of Montreal this weekend. Email me through worldofbeer.com if you're serious about wanting a case of their maple.

[pootz]

I take it Schoune has cured the now famous infection that crapped out their beers for quite a while...did you notice an improvement across their entire offerings?