Les Voyageurs Audacieux

You'll remember our brewday with former GADDS' brewer, Iain Shuell? Well, the poor lad had to leave these shores before getting a chance to try any of our efforts, so we bottled some and sent it out to him at the Molson Coors brewery in Toronto, his latest workplace.


Ten out of 12 of the intrepid little Voyageurs made it intact, the remaining two had accidents and made a bit of a mess, by all accounts.

Iain was delighted and described the beer thus:

Great head retention. Love it. Expected more maple at the start and hops and the end but found the reverse. Definite maple on the nose but only trace lingering. Can't comment too much on the body because I haven't gave any time to let it settle. As I write this there is half the glass left and a cm of head. I'm so happy. Lovely belgian ale esters. I think the Saaz put this beer in the catagory of continental ale. Am I right? Ok I gotta stop this in fear of being one of those beer geek critics who bleet on the web. Worth every second. Including the late November death rally from York. I'm off for a wee cry to myself.

Bless him.

Le Voyageur

Canadian brewer Iain Shuell is leaving for his homeland next week after a 7 year spell here in Blighty. To me he has been, variously: a colleague, an employee and a close friend for around 15 years now, here and abroad. And I'm going to miss him, so we're brewing a farewell beer together.

On Iain's insistence we're keeping the styling English on a brown ale, but with a distinctly Canadian twist: maple syrup. So it's all about crystal malt for sweetness, with roasted barley and chocolate malt to lend some toffee notes and colour, oats to smooth it out and a twist of wheat for the head. Kent grown fuggles in the boil for a very light bitterness and, late on, for an earthy touch. We ferment with a gentle ale yeast, adding a flagon of maple syrup early on, and another just before casking. Mature for 3 weeks and send it out for New Year.

Oh, and there will be tears in there too.

The story of the voyageurs is pretty cool and very Canadian - look.