Vapeur En Folie
Another oddly labelled beer from Vapeur. "Folie" translates as "madness" from French, so I suppose that explains the label. A nondescript unmarked green cap. I have never seen another bottle of beer filled as high as this one: there is only about 3 cm between the beer and the underside of the cap, consequently it almost foamed over when I popped the cap. This is a hazy tangerine coloured beer; orange and light brown. Bits of sediment clearly visible floating. The head is a creamy off-white cover, not extremely large, but consistent at about 1cm. Superb lacing, leaving a dense screen that slowly dissolves on the sides of a chalice glass. Some of the best lace on a beer I have seen. The aroma is a massive hit of sliced pieces of green apple. Spicy cider; this is definitely not the typical apple aroma of some beers--this one is frontal, extremely heavy. Behind this are some sour candy smells, lightish malt, a low level of any musky yeast, spicy fruits, and a moderate solvent-like pungency of alcohol. Cinnamon rolls, grass, a numbing clove smell, and several others, chemical-like, somewhat hard to identify. A complex aroma. That fresh green apple dominates, and I like it. I get apple in the front of the taste as well, but in the middle there is tart malt, lactose, and it leaves with a decent dryness. Slick sugariness from the beginning, leaving a carmelised candied taste. Not much aftertaste at all, and the body is medium. It definitely has some sour notes in the middle, and phenolic. Medium carbonation, but to its credit this is a very smooth beer to drink. The alcohol limits the drinkability, as does the subtle dryness which becomes stronger with every sip. This beer IS a little mad, a little all over the map as far as anything close to a "style" is concerned. A unique beer.