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A beer with a canoe on it I can recommend

I don't have this in my fridge right now, but when I do it doesn't stay there for long. http://www.unibroue.com/en/beers/17/product
I love the folk tale and the beer.
Beat me to the punch. I drink lots of the Unibroue offerings all the time, and Maudite is pretty much my favourite of theirs.

Visuel_Maudite1.jpg
 
That must be some strong beer to make your canoe and crew fly like that. I figured I'd at least need some of those bear and squirrel mushrooms to get that effect.
 
The Flying Canoe
A French Canadian Folktale
retold by
S. E. Schlosser
Long ago, there were a number of lonely lumberjacks working in the center of a very large forest. They cut down mammoth trees and watched them crash into the thick snow in exactly the place where they said the trees would land. They would cut up the trees and haul them hither and thither. They worked hard, Mon Dieu, very hard indeed! But they were lonely for the women they had left behind.
On New Years Day, it snowed so hard no work could be done. The men huddled in their camp and spoke longingly of their home. They passed around the rum and drank toasts to the New Year, but finally Baptiste said what they were all thinking: "I wish to go home today and see my girl!" There were murmurs of agreement, but Jean replied: "How can we go home today? There is more than two meters of snow on the road, and more snow is falling."
"Who said we were walking out of here?" asked Baptiste. "I am going to paddle out in my canoe." Now the men all knew that Baptiste had a canoe with paddles out back of the camp. Baptiste had made a pact with the devil. If the devil would make the canoe fly wherever Baptiste wished, the lumberjack would not say Mass for an entire year. However, if Baptiste did not return the canoe before dawn of the day after he used it, the devil could keep his soul. While Baptiste and his companions were in la chasse-gallerie, they could not say the name of God or fly over a church or touch any crosses, or the canoe would crash.
Many of the men refused to participate in Baptiste's New Years scheme, but he managed to find seven companions to fly with him in the canoe back to their home town to visit their women. Baptiste and his friends got into the canoe, and Baptiste said the magic words: "Acabris! Acabras! Acabram!"
When Baptiste was done binding himself to the devil, the canoe rose into the air and the men began to paddle their way through the sky to their home. Their womenfolk were so glad to see them! They celebrated long into the night, drinking and dancing. It was close to dawn when the men realized they had to return the canoe to the lumber camp by dawn or forfeit their souls. They searched for Baptiste, and found him as drunk as a lord, lying under a table at the inn. They bundled him into the canoe, spoke the magic words, and paddled away. Knowing that Baptiste would start swearing if they woke him, one of the men tied him up and gagged him so he would not speak the name of God at an inopportune moment and crash the canoe.
When Baptiste awoke, he sat up, struggling with the ropes that bound him. He managed to loosen the gag, and shouted: "Mon Dieu, why have you tied me up?"
At the name of God, the canoe took a nose-dive, plunging towards the ground. It hit the top of a large pine tree and all the men tumbled out and fell down, down into the darkness just before dawn. They were never seen again!

I cut and pasted this version (I've read several) from :
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/the_flying_canoe.html
It's a good tale to tell around a canoe trip campfire.​
 
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Interesting tale, Odyssey. Reading that got me to look on the Unibroue site, as I remember reading their history of the name too. Here it is, a much more condensed version, but similar.

Maudite (danged) was the first strong beer to be retailed in Quebec. The word “Maudite” refers here to the Legend of “Chasse-Galerie” a tribute to the early lumberjacks of Nouvelle-France. The legend tells of eight daring woodsmen who, during winter, yearned to be home for the Holidays. They conjured up the Devil and all of them pledged their soul in return for flying them in their canoe to their village. As they sailed across the moonlit sky, one of them managed to free himself from the pledge by invoking the name of God, which caused the flying canoe to come crashing down to earth.
 
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I "discovered" Unibroue while on a short trip to Montreal. The grocery store was just a block up the street from our B&B. Interestingly (to me) the store sat on the original location of the old hockey club. Anyway, finding the selection of craft beers was like a candy store. I filled a bag with beers (my wife picked her favourite wine), and along with deli stuff for our late night al fresco picnic, we sauntered back down rue St Urbain. These beers occasionally show up at our local liquor store (LCBO), but it's hit and miss.
Yes, the folk tale is a fun one. Years ago when we lived in Quebec, the radio would play traditional music and folk tales around Christmas and New Years. I'm pretty sure that's when I first heard this tale. There are several versions. One has Baptiste falling from the canoe and dissapearing, while the rest fly safely back to camp. Another has a member being betrothed to a sweetheart, and Baptiste using his lovestruck susceptibilty as a way to go off to the party to drink. Yet another has the crew crashing to earth, and failing to find Baptiste, walking back to camp. I have no idea what the original story is. Craft beer labels sure are getting artistic and interesting.
 
The beer in my original post was named after an historical person:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Hennepin

A somewhat fitting name to a Belgian style beer.

Although it's good, and it has a canoe on it, I don't find it as good, or as impressive as this beer:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/35625/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebel...lds-best-beer/

It's absolutely astonishing the flavors that come from this beer using only water, yeast, wheat & barley, and hops. The Belgian beer uses all sorts of spices. The flavor in Vitus comes from the brewing process. It's phenomenal. It's craft beer before there ever was such a thing.

Although not highly rated, and probably because it's not a real Oktoberfest but rather a fancy Munich Helles lager, I'll be enjoying this tonight with a couple Bratwurst. Prost!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/pro...ecent&start=25
 
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The beer in my original post was named after an historical person:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Hennepin

A somewhat fitting name to a Belgian style beer.

Although it's good, and it has a canoe on it. I don't find it as good, or as impressive as this beer:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/35625/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebell/2012/03/26/weihenstephan-vitus-named-worlds-best-beer/

It's absolutely astonishing the flavors that come from this beer using only water, yeast, wheat & barley, and hops. The Belgian beer uses all sorts of spices. The flavor in Vitus comes from the brewing process. It's phenomenal. It's craft beer before there ever was such a thing.

Although not highly rated, and probably because it's not a real Oktoberfest but rather a fancy Munich Helles lager, I'll be enjoying this tonight with a couple Bratwurst. Prost!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/6861/?view=beer&sort=recent&start=25



Oh dang....another brew quest! And I'm still busy trying to nail down the best Meade I can get......
 
How does Meade go with sausages? I'm kind of a brown mustard and sausage kick right now.

I think I'm really going to need that Nordic Track...
 
That guy standing in the bow looks like a picture I saw of a Jesuit waving a cross at the Huron as he arrived at their village. I guess if a Jesuit was waving a beer at me, I might be more apt to welcome him.
 
I love this stuff. My maternal grandfather was from Prussia and grew up in Ontario. After a shot of whiskey, he would recite poetry in French-Canadian English.

"The snow she four feet wide, Huh?"
 
It might be that same guy. Father Hennepin was a missionary noted for 'discovering' Niagara falls. I'm betting he made it into your territory. There is mention of him sailing the great lakes.

And he most likely really had a cross in hands as he and his crew stormed into native villages... not a beer. But I could be wrong...
 
I love this stuff. My maternal grandfather was from Prussia and grew up in Ontario. After a shot of whiskey, he would recite poetry in French-Canadian English.

"The snow she four feet wide, Huh?"

What part of Prussia? Did he come before or after the unification? For some reason I'd guess the latter part of the 19th century.

The little I know about my family ties me to Hesse, although there is significant presence of my surname in Bavaria as well.

I have looked at old records and found my current surname as enlisted Hessian mercenaries during the American revolution but I don't believe I'm actually tied to those individuals. As far as my maternal, and grandmaternal roots I know those are German as well, and some fairly recent, but I don't have any info on the location. All my direct ancestors were in America before the World Wars, except maybe my paternal Grandmother, they may have come over just before or just after WWI, I don't have an exact date.
 
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That Hennepin history is fascinating, thanks l'oiseau. I think I tried that once. Last year I think. I bought a bottle because of the label. Yeah, merchandising and fancy labelling hooks me like a suckerfish. I don't recall liking it. I'm not into hoppy beers. I think I need more educating. Boy, if that isn't a good excuse for a craft beer tasting party, I don't know what is.
Sausages are great. And yes, they go great with beer. Our local farmer's market has a butcher who makes his own. Several different flavour combinations have caught my eye, such as feta and leek, stilton and pear, jalapano and cheddar...The usual suspects of Mexican, Cajun, farmer's, Italian etc show up too. We like these types in a bun with mustard, or the old fashioned bangers and mash. I'm thinking that bangers and mash might be a nice canoe trip supper early on, say around night 2. Sausages frozen and mash from dehydrate? That with a cool can of Guinness. Yum.
 
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A nice pour of the good stuff before dinner.

I wouldn't call that Hennepin hoppy. You may have had another beer, like a pale ale, from Ommegang. The Hennepin is a wheat beer at it's base but it's heavily spiced with all sorts of stuff. I can barely even detect any hops and it kind of comes right at the finish.

And if you like Guiness, you may not like German or Belgian style beers. They are a complete 180. I, personally, don't like Guiness Draght. It's not that it's a bad beer or anything, it's just I don't like the Stout style. I don't particularly like IPAs either. Not much into the British styles altogether.
 
You're likely right about my getting a couple Ommegang selections confused. I'm not into spicy beers either. Not that I haven't tried a few. I'll keep trying more though. How's that saying go? "You won't know till you've tried it." Or maybe it was "How can you say you don't like it till you've tried it." Or as my mom used to say "Oh, just do as you're told and eat your supper."
Anyway, yes, I love English suds. They have a huge craft thing going on too. The porters, stouts and brown ales are my favourite brews. I try to shop locally when I can. (domestic before foreign) Our son-in-law wants to get into home brewing someday. I told him "That'll be good. I already love you like a son. If you brew your/our own you sure could move up in the family pecking order pretty dang quick." I was kidding of course. Our youngest daughter's bf is finishing a biochem degree, and then going off to here next year: http://www.niagaracollege.ca/conten...BrewmasterandBreweryOperationsManagement.aspx
He seems a determined young fellow. Where's all this hullabaloo about beer coming from? I was reading an article about how serious some home brewers are. Not only expensive equipment, but even culturing their own yeasts and getting finicky with their water PH etc. And there I am, picking beers for their attractive labels.
You mention IPA's. That seems to be the rage around here, both with big brewers and small. Not a fan of IPA's.
 
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