Canon Franchetti

I didn’t make it home for Christmas in 2018, choosing instead to spread the holidays with the Bitter Wife’s family in British Columbia. While the beer in BC was bountiful and excellent, I did have some pangs around missing out on another year’s crop of brews from my birth province. Enter my fantastic brother, who brought be two 341mL stubbies of Canon Franchetti, a cappuccino stout brewed in Edmundston, NB by Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault. What a guy!

Brewed in honour of the first pastor of Edmundston’s St. John the Baptist Church, the beer has just 4.6% alcohol and 29 IBUs. According to the label, it’s brewed with lactose and fair trade coffee beans, but unfortunately the provenance of those beans is unstated. Note to craft brewers: identify your collaborators and suppliers!

The beer was coal black and poured with a quickly thinning layer of tan head—by the time I was done my describing and sniffing, there was merely a tan ring of suds left. True to its billing, Canon Franchetti had a robust cappuccino nose—dark roast coffee led the way, but it also had a sweet streak. The flavour had some malty elements, but mostly this beer showcases its java elements. The mouthfeel is quite agreeably smooth, while the finish is sweet and only a bit bitter.

When I’m drinking coffee, I prefer bitter to sweet and like espresso over cappuccino. Again, with coffee stouts, I typically want a wallop of bitter joe, as opposed to mocha and latte options. Given these preferences, it should be no surprise that I found Canon Franchetti to be a bit too sweet. That said, I liked the low alcohol take on the stout, and I found the beer to be playful and engaging. I’d be unlikely to reach for a second same-day, but I’d definitely revisit this brew in a post-dinner setting.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.