Mordante Puts Nelson Sauvin and Nectaron on a Dry Pale Ale

Two New Zealand hops the Gatineau brewery calls favorites share one 5.5 percent pale ale. Bas-Canada describes exotic fruit with a winey, herbaceous edge, carried on a beer it built dry rather than sweet.

Style: Pale Ale
Release Date: 2026-09-24
ABV: 5.5%
Brasserie du Bas-Canada (Gatineau, QC)

The hop list is two names long, and both of them grew in New Zealand. Brasserie du Bas-Canada calls Nelson Sauvin and Nectaron two of its favorite hops, and Mordante is the pale ale where the Gatineau brewery puts them together.

Fresh cans arrived this morning. Mordante is 5.5 percent ABV in 473 ml cans, with a limit of 24 per person. The brewery's tasting notes run to exotic fruit with a winey, herbaceous touch, all of it carried on a beer it describes as dry and heavily hopped.

That pairing has a clear division of labor. Nelson Sauvin is the source of the winey character, and not by coincidence - the variety is named for the Sauvignon blanc grape its aroma is routinely compared to, and white wine and gooseberry are its standard descriptors. The herbaceous edge belongs to it as well. Nectaron is the newer of the two, released commercially in 2021, and its reputation is built on tropical and stone fruit. Put beside each other, Nectaron supplies the exotic fruit in the brewery's notes and Nelson Sauvin supplies the part that reads more like a glass of wine than a glass of beer.

Keeping the base dry is the choice that makes the combination work. A sweeter, fuller pale ale would soften the herbaceous and vinous notes into something rounder and less distinct. A dry finish leaves them exposed. It is also what keeps a beer this heavily hopped drinkable at 5.5 percent rather than turning it into a sipper.

Cans went on sale online at 11 a.m. today at bascanada.beer, packed from the brewery's Hautes-Plaines site. Orders can be collected within the week, and both the Gatineau and Hautes-Plaines tasting rooms are open. Mordante is one of three beers in the release.

Editor’s Take

Vineuse. That is the word Bas-Canada reaches for, and in a beer newsletter it is always a small act of nerve. Wine is the thing beer is forever being measured against and found to be cheaper than. Nelson Sauvin is the hop that gets to say it without flinching, named for the Sauvignon blanc it keeps being mistaken for, and the brewery has simply written down what the hop does.

Then there is the decision underneath it, which is to keep the beer dry. A hop this loud usually gets a cushion of malt sweetness to land on, the way a big soft pale ale rounds off its edges. Bas-Canada has taken the cushion away and left the hops standing on a hard floor at 5.5 percent. Fewer places to hide, which is generally what people mean when they call something a favorite hop rather than a useful one.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.