Castelain St. Amand French Country Ale

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

Yep, this opne was just labled "French Country Ale" in my local supermarket, but it's still the same good beer. With a dark golden hue, a somewhat floral aroma, and a playfully fresh taste for a 5.9 ABV brew, I truly recommend this one.

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.

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.

From a 750 ml. caged cork bottle, a bottling date on the back label, I’m purely guessing here, four embossed mashing tuns on the shoulder of bottle, sampled in a tulip glass. Poured a clear reddish tarnished copper with a forthy, foamy, bubbly topped creme beige head, good retention, slowly dissipates into a sudsy lacing, minimal amount of laced sticking. First, a good earthy, musty nose, followed by toasted caramel malts and grains, apples and grapes, a subtle mix of herbs and spice, appetizing aromas. Moderate body with lots of active, micro bubbly carbonation, crisp and dry, tastes of toasted malts, caramel toffee and grains, a light mix of dry herbs and spices, earthy nuttiness, mildly apple fruity, the alcohol is not very noticeable, but does provides a lingering sweet warmth in the palate, a dry caramel toffee finish, a smooth, easy drinkability. The next time I have a chance to visit northern France, hopefully next spring, I will have to make a point of visiting this brewery, so far, everything I’ve had from this French ale brewer has been at least above average, I thought this was first rate, very enjoyable.

(tasting at Solano Cellars 07/25/09) Good head. Sweet aroma, almost cherry-like. Orange body. Malty flavor. One of my favorites from the tasting we did.

Attractive amber color with nice head. Initially there is tons of belgian candi sugar aroma but that fades. Flavor is quite nice with good hop bitterness to balance the sweetness in malt. As this warms up it gets sweeter with pear notes developing. Quite tasty.

Pours a dark brown color with a nice creamy head. Lacing is evident but not very dominant. Aroma is slightly fruity with a strong yeast nose. Flavor is well rounded with a light alcohol kick in the end. Finishes smooth and mild, very close to a belgian dubbel. Overall this one was well aged and has a good amount of complexities. Thanks Indra!

st amand french country ale bottle from blue max liquors in minneapolis: i’ve had this before, but not for a while again until now. huge earthy floral aroma and smells of sweet malts, absolutely wonderful aroma to my nose anyway. the flavor is similar, delicate and well balanced. somewhat sour in the flavor, but not overly so. i’m biased of course, i love farmhouse ales ;)