Casablanca (Casa Beer)

Brewed by Société des Brasseries du Maroc (Heineken)
Style: Pale Lager
Casablanca, Morocco

12-oz. You know you like that label--the date palms, the die-cut edges, the subdued colors. Very nice. Very much puts you in the mind of a beer you don’t often see. Very happy to find this one today at my local supermarket. The Mediterranean/Lebanese place near work promises this on their menu and they never have it. Harrumph.
Pours a somewhat hazy and rather flaky-looking medium amber. Not a hallmark of a clean and bright pale lager, that haziness and that flakiness. Thin little spritz of foam pretending to be a head. Big ol’ skunky aroma, but it’s, you know, Moroccan skunk, and exotic, so keep an open nostril about it. (Really, it’s just regular skunk. I was just kidding about the exotic Moroccan skunk thing. That was a lie. I was lying).
Fizzy, watery body, can’t really taste much of anything except for some wet cardboard on the mid-palate. Acetic, somewhat chemicaly finish. Gee, I’ve never had a beer quite like this before. Oh, wait. Never mind.

Bottle, purchased at Epcot. Pours amber with an average, off-white, lasting head, good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (toasted grain, meal, cereal), average hops (grass), and average yeast (sweat, dough). Light bodied, sticky texture, average carbonation, and a metallic finish. Average duration, light sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

Bottled at a moroccan restaurant in Manhattan - which had no windows and a broken sound system and was completely empty. It was like eating in a monastery. Why is it written that every country must produce its own weak yellow lager? Because in case you were wondering - this is one of them.

Tap at Epcot food and wine. Pours golden color with big white head. Soapy barley aroma. Taste is clean and crisp, but nothing special. Good for a hot day.

355ml brown bottle. Pours a pale yellow colour, seems to have some light hazing. Faint white head. Aroma is slightly grainy, has some straw/grass hop accents. In the mouth - grainy malts, bread crust and some grassy hop flavour. Noticable grassy/leafy bitterness in finish, some mineral notes. Active tight carbonation, light mouthfeel.

Bottle. Pours clear pale amber with a bubbly white head sustained by rising carbonation. Aroma of biscuit and caramel with grass and a touch of grain. Light body without being watery, medium carbonation. Lightly sweet taste that mirrors the nose. I see it’s listed as a pale lager, but it seems to be drifting into Pils territory.

2nd African lager of the night. Same as the first not bad but nothing great. A bit staw and corn like but refreshing.

Bottle (Expires 7/26/08) Pours pale golden with a white film for head. The aroma has a hint of sweet pale malt and some straw. The texture is great for a Pale Lager. Creamy and tight. There’s some mildly sweet flavors from a pale malt presence, giving it a solid light body. The finish has a solid grassy bitterness. This is one of the better Pale Lagers of the world.