Celtika Ambrée

Brewed by Brasserie Celtik (formerly: Douar Men)
Style: Amber Ale
Cléguérec, France

Bottle, a bit past it’s "best by" date. It erupted from the bottle and poured with a big airy head that disappeared in a steady pace, like 7Up. Once the body appears, it’s muddy orange. The aroma is yeasty and bitter. Milky. Quite sour. Bready. Dried fruit. Vanilla. Tea. Complex. (#3070, 8/29/2007)

Bottled (6.5%). Hazy amber, brief head. Dusty nose. Citric and fruity. Dry with clean mouthfeel and light body. Primitive malt character, followed by lemony acidity. Low bitterness.

Just odd. Medium amber, hazy, with a huge head. Faint sourness on the aroma made me think I may have a bad bottle. Flavor was of sweat and dirt, and reminded me distinctly of a really over the top corked bottle of wine. TCH, is that the compound? Can’t remember. Some caramel as well. In any case, I was torn between weather or not this was a bad bottle, or if the strange off flavors were intentional. In the end, I decided that this was what they were actually trying for. Yikes.

Hazy beige colour, with a strangly fruity aroma that made me wonder if this was an amber ale or not (thinking the a actual type of beer was wrongly translated into English). I was orignally quite disappointed by the flavor, which I found to be very thin; Then I realized that this beer is actually 6.5% alcohol, so the thin flavor is actually a false-front for a real whopping hang-over. All told, this isn’t a bad beer. The finish is light, but easy to handle. Probably a really nice summer beer, to be enjoyed while sitting in the shade and feeling lazy. Sante

Bottle sampled on 8/16/06: Pours a clear copper amber with a well-lacing, big off-white head. Aroma of dry biscuity malt and mild tart cherries. Body starts with a touch of caramel sweetness turning more tart and fruity toward a drier finish. Fairly well-balanced and drinkable.

750 ml. bottle, corked and caged. $5.29 at Total Wine & More, Claymont, DE. The corked released with a bang, but the foam never rose beyond the neck. Carefully poured it delivered a slightly hazy deep amber / copper body beneath a two-fingered head of creamy yellowed tan. It offers excellent head retention, continually maintaining a solid 1/4" or more throughout the glass, and leaving creamy rings like those left by Guinness. The aroma immediately reminded me of Chimay Premiere, and I wonder if that was what they were going for, and if they’re using the same yeast. It’s softly fruity with sweetish dark-skinned fruits (plum, raisin), a waft of vanilla, some earthy/mineralish/musty character that I think of as "cork", grassy hops, and a very mild spiciness. In the mouth it’s gently effervescent with a light bristle on the tongue before warming to become more cottony and smooth. More earthy, mineralish, and musty character appears in the flavor, followed by some sweetish, lightly caramelish maltiness. The dark-skinned fruitiness steps in at mid-palate, and is immediately followed by an edgy bitterness. It finishes with a touch of woodiness, some nuttiness, a suggestion of orange peel, some candy sugar, and more grassy hops and mustiness. Quite complex and enjoyable!

Orange-foxy beer with good amberish tinted dense head. Gassy, brown sugar and a bit leafy; orange/orangepeel, nuts and sugared fruit. Again something (wal)nutty, oranges and roasted malts in the taste, bit aggressive. This strange grassy smell mixes into the flavour as well. Human sweat, cabbage. I’m not really enjoying this. Rather well bodied, slick, but also astringent. Surprisingly carbonated, as the crown cork had not quite survived the voyage Brussel-Ursel, slightly leaking foam. Ouch. Not my cuppa - how does one say ’tea’ in Breton parlé?

Poured a hazy amber color with a large beige head. Yeast aroma with notes of fruit and toffee. Fruity and tart flavor. Semi-dry with a hop bitter finish.