Country of Origin: Canada
Price comparison: About twice what I pay for everyday beer.
Alcohol percentage by volume: 5.5%.
Cute bottle/label? Four twelve-ounce bottles. The most beautiful Unibroue label I've seen so far, with an illustration of a fairy in a flowery meadow, overlaid by a green apple. Seems almost a deliberate campaign for conversion into an expensive tattoo.
Appearance: Somewhere between golden and amber, but closer to golden. Fairly cloudy, head died fast and left virtually no lacing.
Scent: If the label wasn't enough of a clue, you certainly get the hint once you crack the bottle open. Apples. Damn. I couldn't smell anything but apples at first, although, after I gave it my best effort and a few more sniffs, I could finally detect some of the promised curaçao lurking in the wings.
(Helpful hint to readers who are unfamiliar with curaçao: it's a liqueur that tastes like orange zest. Incidentally, even though it looks like it ought to be "cure - a - cow", it's actually pronounced "koor - a - SOW".)
Flavor: One of my favorite lines from Dead Again, which is one of my favorite movies, is this one, delivered by Robin Williams' character: "Either you're a smoker or a nonsmoker. The trick is to decide which one you are, and be that." I identify very strongly with that line, because I haven't had a cigarette in over a year, yet I still feel like a smoker.
But I digress. There was a point to my having brought up that line. Pick which one you are, and be that. Éphémère smells like a wine cooler and tastes like beer. I was very tempted to say, "Go away and don't come back till you've made up your mind." Very dry and malty. Gulping it lets you almost taste apple peels; sipping it, not so much.
Impressions: This beer had a lot less character than I was anticipating, especially since its Unibroue cousins have all made me pretty happy. Éphémère is the French for "transitory", and so this is. The label proudly proclaims it to be composed of apple, coriander, and curaçao, but none of the flavors really makes itself known, although the scent of apple is wildly overpowering. I gave another bottle a go, just to be fair (heh) and, with a dash of cinnamon, another of allspice, and a quick grating of fresh nutmeg, it was more palatable, but I shouldn't have to do the work myself, especially at that price.
By the end of the second bottle, I felt slightly more charitable (or, at least, a little more buzzed). The weather may be too cold for me to properly enjoy this obviously summer-oriented beer, but I'm thinking: Italian combo sub, plus one of these, plus warm day, could well equal a decent picnic. As for the balance of this particular four-pack, I'll use one bottle to par-steam ribs before grilling and the other to deglaze the pan next time I make chicken-apple sausage with onions.
Will I buy this beer again? I wouldn't necessarily turn Éphémère down if someone else bought me one, but I take a little exception to the higher cost. I mean, for a bottle of perfume with a pretty label, the price was reasonable, but for a beer I didn't like well enough to do anything other than cook with, it was kind of expensive.
Rating:
2½ out of 5 cute beer glasses
Postscript:
I made pork chops with Éphémère sauce tonight and they came out quite good. Here's my recipe.
Reviewed: October 2, 2003
