Breweries "Visited"

Monday, December 26, 2011

Canada: Land of Mind Control Hockey and Flying Canoes

Beer #16 Maudite/ Unibroue, Chambly, Quebec, Canada
Last day of the "official" Christmas holiday, before it's back to work tomorrow for a busy year-end.  From our holiday weekend, allow me to recommend 30 Minutes or Less and Crazy Stupid Love.  Both great films, definitely worth the effort.  In all, its been a great past few days.  Hopefully these good vibes carry through New Year's and kicks off 2012 with some positive momentum.

Today's beer is our first Canadian offering, Maudite.  A Belgian Strong Ale with a nice amber color in the glass, and an excellent combination of sweet and malt flavors.  Citrus notes with spice, and a clean, crisp taste.  Excellent choice, and really interesting bottle art of some dudes riding a canoe through an eerie orange sky while a demon glares in the foreground.  My vision of a fun night, to be sure.  "Maudite" means "Damned", and the ancient legend behind the beer stems from lumberjacks in remote Canada who made a pact with the Devil to fly them back home at the holidays to visit their families.  As you can imagine, the flying canoe thing didn't end too well.  Should have probably went for Southwest airlines, where bags fly free.

Interesting note: yet another big beer M&A story, as Unibroue was bought by someone called Sleeman Brewery in '04, and then Sleeman was bought in '06 by Sapporo, a Japanese brewery.

Thing to Think About Today:
If we're thinking about Canada, we're thinking about the best movie ever made about Canada: Strange Brew.  What better movie to tie into a blog about a beer adventure, right?   I won't spoil the ending, but this film is the epic tale of the McKenzie brothers, two inept idiots who unwittingly uncover a mind-control scheme.... and hilarity ensues and a lot of beer is consumed along the way.  This scene won't make sense if you haven't already seen the movie, but watch it anwyay:

Take off, you hosers.  No use steering now.   Beauty.

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