Castelain St. Amand French Country Ale

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

750 ml bottle first pour in Duvel glass. Dark hazy orange with flat pale orange head and some lace. Caramel orange honey bread aroma. Mild caramel raw honey and orange flavor with mild finishing spice and tobacco bitterness. Medium body and carbo. Pretty good. Probably a step up for Fat Tire drinkers.

Sampled during BJCP training, probably my personal highlight of this day, much better than I was expecting. Medium amber, nice head, slight haze. Aroma of apple, apple skin, touch of must, some honey. Nice. Flavor is quite malty, decidedly different from the nose. Caramel dominates, accented by the same notes found in the aroma. Nice.

Bottle from my boss for xmas. Pour resembles a dunkel. Some caramel and fruit in the aroma - not much to speak of though. Flavor is carried by a bubbly carbonation, lager-esque - malt, rye, fruity notes, dash of bitterness. Very small, lack luster, refreshing type of beer. No reason to return to this...

750 mL from the Hendersonville Co-op. Also easily found at Bruisin’ Ales in Asheville. St. Amand pours a handsome -- no, gorgeous -- copper color with plenty of generous head, even when poured slowly. The nose is extremely complex -- clay soil, caramel, butter, farmland, and fresh aromatic hops are all in there, along with some more elusive intangibles that are conjuring up all sorts of images of rural Europe for me. On the tongue, the caramel sings out with a spritzy edge, the hops keep it interesting, and the butter moves to the forefront, but what really does it for me is a slight sour twist towards the end -- reminiscent of those Flemish Ales that I’ve recently fallen in love with (such as Duchesse de Bourgogne). This says to me, "drink with food!" Much better than Castelian/Ch’ti, as far as I’m concerned. Take it for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Bottle from Capone’s. Deep copper pour with minimal off-white head. Aroma is predominantly caramel malt; reminds me a lot of a marzeny aroma, with the heavy malt bill plus some figgy and apply fruit and mild winey notes. The palate is medium heft, with flavors of caramel malt, some apple coated brown sugary notes, but as it warms it gets a bit more tart, and then some red winey notes emerge. Not terribly complex, and everything just didn;t quite seem to gel in this one. Still, worth a buy if you see it.

My second of this style and I am blown away by the complexity! Aroma of must and dust. Pour was a medium dark amber with a one finger off white head. Taste was the complex part. Started off sweet and caramel like. The carbonation seemed to wash the sweetness away and lend an odd sour taste that bit the cheeks. Gotta seek this style out more.

750 ml bottle

This was $6.99 at Steve’s. Since the Blond Biere de Garde was enjoyable I thought I’d give this one a try as well. As it turns out I happen to like it more. Here’s to hoping I can continue to find it after the cellar has been thinned a bit. It reminds me a French take on the sour style, close to something like New Glarus Sour Brown.

Aroma / Appearance - The half finger head was pure white. It lingered lazily over a dirty brown body that was free of sediment with minimal carbonation. The nose was cherry wood, malt and cedar. Apple sauce blends with a fruity package. A hint of sourness tweaks the nose reminding me of New Glarus Enigma or Sour Brown.

Flavor / Palate - Wood and malt fill the mouth on the first sip. A slight tartness graces the followup of raspberry iced tea. It fades fast which only means I have to take another sip. The tartness is light and perfect against the bitterness. It did not take long to polish this off at which point I was ready to buy another bottle.

Interesting candyish aroma, some candied orange peel, jelly beans, a tingle of phenol. Flavor surprisingly clean, with a rye bread maltiness, and a sweep of grassy hops into the dry somewhat thin finish. The aftertaste hints at a vague spicy hop. Not alot of character here. Light to medium body. Cloudy amber color, fading head but it left alot of nice lacing.