Castelain ChTi Blonde

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

(Bottle at La Gueuze, Paris, 15 Oct) Clear yellow colour with huge, firm, white head. Malty nose with fresh cereal aromas and grassy notes. Malty, clean and fresh taste with notes of tropical fruit, pineapple and grassy hops in the fairly dry finish. Refreshing and enjoyable.

Bottled, 750ml. Yellow to orange, cloudy, short head. Light and thin flavours with a touch of banana and a hint of grapefruit. Otherwise quite a boring lifeless beer, quite disapointing, nothing hidden to search for, all very much single dimensional.

This is a very simple beer. It is a little bit sour, there is brett and lots of yeast. Some barnyard. The flavor is one dimensional and not as complex as the aroma. Cloudy orange and an impressive, thick and tall white head, with some sediment. Dry palate.

Bottled. Golden colour, fluffy big white head. Aroma is sweet caramel, fruits, hops and cooked vegetables. Flavour is caramel, malts, hops and slight barnyardishness/earthyness. Dry and hayish aftertaste.

Malty scent. Light, slightly grassy with a touch of bitter fruityness. Light, slightly roasty dryness. It’s balanced, but it’s also missing something. A bit simple.

From a 750 ml. caged cork brown bottle with what I am guessing is a bottling date on the back label, 12.01.06., sampling at cellar temperature in a chalice. Poured a cloudy golden hued orange with a foamy, bubbly topped white head that settled into a thin lacing. Aromas of musty wheat with a bare touch of toffee, apples, floral with a light hay and a little earthiness, very, very small whiffs of alcohol. Good carbonation and a crisp, dry, smooth light bodied mouthfeel. Pleasant tasting, apples with a light citrus, caramelized sugary malts, spicy and slightly hayish hops, a very soft banana, an little earthy breadiness towards the end, the alcohol is not that noticeable, but is warming in the palate and a dry, subtle chalky, sweet malty finish, a nice smooth drinkability. Not bad, not great, just pleasant and drinkable, kind of expensive though, $10.99 for a 750 ml. bottle.

[bottle generously given by C. Fillebeen] Hazy golden with a fizzy white top with splotches of fine bubbles. Effervescent. The aroma is black peppery noble hops with some soft banana malt and faint ctirus. Watery malt flavour up front, followed by fresh floral and citrusy hops. A bit of alcohol flavour mixes really well with the subtle bitterness. This beer is fruity too. Quite clean and crisp for such a high gravity brew. Just a tad too dry, though.

Light yeasty aroma with a massive white head. Transparent bright gold/orange color. Flavor had strong citrus notes (lemon/orange), with a fairly smooth mouthfeel, although a bit fizzy. Overall, a decent French country ale, but this is just not my style of beer.