Celebrante with Bailly Lapierre

After a weekend of zip-lining, hiking, eating and drinking up at Mont Tremblant, we are back home and back into the swing of our semi-normal life. And what an exciting week it has been! After two years in our home, we have finally broken down and gotten internet!! It may not sound so exciting for anyone else, but after two years of using our phones for Facebook, email and general web browsing, with spotty service at best, and begging (harassing?) friends to download TV shows we've missed, we will now have somewhat spotty (but FAST!) internet service to call our own (but it doesn't reach the bedroom... or shop...). And while I would have thought we would celebrate by binge watching Netflix and downloading galore, this has not been the case. We've been marathon watching the first season of Prison Break. I watched it when it was released TEN YEARS AGO (I can't even believe it), but Shane never did. I've heard they are doing another season soon, and so I thought we could watch it. The first season is awesome. I remember loving it at the time too, and then the next season was less awesome, and then I lost interest... We'll see how it goes this time around. 

Tyson didn't like that this "Champagne"
didn't have a cork...

August 27, 2015

Champagne Thursday started a little differently this week. On the way to Mont Tremblant we stopped by a brewery (remember, the traffic? How could you forget?) and picked up a special bottle of beer, the Celebrante, which is a strong beer made with Champagne yeast. How interesting! So we thought we'd give it a shot, and when more appropriate than a Champagne Thursday?

It was nice, it was quite sweet, and had a thicker, almost syrupy mouth feel. It reminded us both of La Fin du Monde, a strong beer by Unibroue. 

It reminded Shane of banana bread, and dried fruit, like raisins. It has a warm orange-y feel, like a heavy white beer. 

Welcome back to Champagne
Thursday, Tyson!

But not to worry! We didn't stop there, we didn't use that in place of our traditional bubbly!  

This week we had a bottle of Bailly Lapierre Reserve Brut, Cremant de Bougogne. It came highly recommended by our Champagne Guy (yes, we have a Champagne Guy, don't you?), who happens to love Cremants. Looking back through our Champagne Thursday Facebook posts, it was actually one we had back in November of 2014 as well. I knew that label looked familiar.

It's very light in colour, as shown in the picture, and nicely dry. It is quite smooth, not acidic, and very easy drinking. The bubbles are small and quite lovely. 

But that's about it... It is a lovely bottle, we don't have anything bad to say about it, that's for sure, but we don't have anything memorable to say about it either... We didn't really pick up on many different flavours or aromas (nothing bready like last week, nothing fruity like some others), just a nice, safe, sparkling white wine. 

Verdict: We enjoyed it, and we would have it again. It's like that movie that you have on your shelf that you can watch over and over again if nothing else is on, and be satisfied after. It may not be your favourite movie (although, it may be), but you can always throw it on and watch it again. For Shane, that movie is Dogma, for me it's Poolhall Junkies or The Boondock Saints. 

Until next week!
~S

• Brand: Bailly Lapierre
• Type of Grape: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay and Aligote
• Sweetness: 8g/L
• Price: $19.95
• Tasting notes: Lovely, dry sparkling wine, easy to drink, smooth and not acidic. It would pair nicely with just about anything, like a roast chicken dinner, but not something too rich in flavour that would overpower the bubbly.