Castelain Blond Biere

Brewed by Brasserie Castelain
Style: Bière de Garde
Benifontaine, France

Pours pale blond with thick frothy appealing head and leaves bountiful lacing. Aroma is clean and hoppy not dissimilar to a pils. Some light fruit, herbal and estery notes but not a floral beer--simply delightful. Similarly, the flavor array is clean, dry, and delicious yet a little soapy. Excellent palate: the carbo seems prickly at first but then it becomes chewy, slick, and slides down well. This would make a superb table beer, one to quaff regularly.

Pours a yellowish gold, with a large creamy white head. Not quite opaque but still very cloudy. Head persists quite a while leaving slight traces of foam back on the sides of the glass. Original aroma was of a floral/spicy hop with just the tinge of skunk. As it warms, sugar sweetness seeps in and as it warms more, diacetyl mixes in for a nice but faint butterscotch aroma. Light caramel sweetness on the tongue, with some balancing bitterness, though not sure if it is from hops or carbonation. A bit of banana like esters. Finishes with a lingering malt. The butter in the nose is not present in the taste. Mouth feel is soft with a medium body. Carbonation is not prickly. I will be looking for this one in the future.

Enjoyed with a ribeye and frites at small bistro in Cambridge, MA. 25.4oz offering. This is a nice beer that opened up a bit as it warmed. It may have been stored and served too cold. Pour shows a pale golden/yellow color, fairly transparent, with a billowy snow-white head. Beautiful. Aroma was somewhat sour on first pour but evolved a bit to some light spicy hop notes that you get in this style (some describe them as earthy or hay-ish, which I would agree with). Flavor is crisp on the palate. Light malty notes and a clean, crisp, lightly-hopped finish that is very pleasant on the entire palate. Just the slightest touch of citrus, which I felt should have been more pronounced.

Bottle (best before 02/03/08, but drunk young). Complex malt aroma with strong notes of grass and spice, lesser touches of caramel and yeast. Hay-ish hops. Golden body with strong visible carbonation and a creamy, lacing white head. Body is medium-light and crisp, bready and spicy with grass and only a touch of citrus. Lightly bitter and lightly sweet, but endlessly drinkable. Finish is dry and slightly tart/acidic. Some nice, pleasant, and robust lager qualities but without the complexity I’d hoped for.

750 ml bottle from Corti Bros., Sacramento. LIght citrus and berries in the aroma, along with lightly roasted, toffee?, malt. Orange tinged golden color with a white head that collapsed. Medium body with creamy carbonation. The flavor starts with light caramel, berry and citrus fruits, and light hot spice notes. Ok, it’s also a tad earthy. It’s also clean (but not crisp), and very refreshing. The finish is mildly sweet, and there seems to be enough bitter to balance. It’s very pleasant to drink.

Sampled @ GDBTF. A pleasant surprise at the Decatur Beer festival, one of the few beers I hadn’t seen or tried before. Forgot to write down notes though, so going off memory. Pours well carbonated a deep yellow gold; saison type farmhouse hops in the nose; balanced by a rich caramel malt body that ended with a peppery yeasty spiciness. Haven’t had a chance to try many biere de gardes, but find them quite enjoyable.

cloudy gold with a small, quickly diminishing white head. toffee aroma with a hint of citrus. palate is light bodied. flavors of toffee, citrus, and basement. very earthy. not bad, but not really that exciting either. i still enjoyed it. solid.

750 ml bottle

I picked this on a whim at Steve’s. Since I am in the middle of a stretch where bigger beers like imperial stouts and double IPAs don’t excite me much I figured I’d go back to some simpler styles. This one is a perfect example of a typical biere de garde (if such a thing exists). If I could find this again I would certainly consider buying another bottle for a summer evening.

Aroma / Appearance - Lively carbonation moves around the blond colored body. A half finger bleached white head rests on top for much of the time, fading only after the second pour. Straw, wheat, lemons and strawberries comprise a fruity and sweet aroma. It reminds me of a strawberry shortcake liquified in a blender with some lemon peels thrown in.

Flavor / Palate - The light mouthfeel don’t stick to the tongue at all but glides quickly down the throat. Straw and honey dominate the easily drinkable first impression. A tart aftertaste reminds me of honeycombs stuck in a blender. The finish is satisfying and complete. It is on par with the Cuvee de 7eme for about a third of the cost.