Christoffel Bier / Blond

Brewed by Sint Christoffel Bier
Style: Pilsener
Roermond, Netherlands

11.2 oz swing top. Cloudy gold with a slightly off white head. Spider web white lacing. Slightly grassy light caramel nose. Soft and smooth palate, mildly sweet caramel with a slight lemon tinge. Finish is a blunted bitter. Standard fare.

Bottle from Super Saver. Hazy dark straw pour with 1-finger off-white head. The aroma is lagery and pale malty, with some honey and dry hoppy citrus noted. The flavor is hoppy, with some pale malts and citrus notes. A unique pils.

Slighty hazy gold body with a small off-white head, a sour/carmelly nose, and a hoppy bite for the taste with some molasses hints..

Jan 05 bottle. Possibly stored in non ideal conditions. This pilsner pours a hazy deep gold color from a 300ml swing top bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is sweet, caramel, butterscotch and piney. A medium bodied pilsner. Malts are caramel and grassy. Hops are herbal and piney. A hoppy if not somewhat sweet tasting pilsner. Smooth and sweet. It doesn’t have that crisp and sharp flavor of most pilsners, but a more muted crispness that blends from a malty sweetness to a earthy/floral hoppiness. Definitely, not your average pilsner. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

33cl bottle
Consumed at ’t Arendsnest, Amsterdam, May 2006
Very good hoppy sweet citrus nose, impressive and surprising. Flavor is a competition of sweet fruit with some hoppy grassy biting crisp lemons. Better than expected. Subsequent bottles from places in the US, rating has improved.

Nifty little swing top bottle. Might be my favorite pilsner, although it wasn’t traditional in any sense. The pour resulted in a dark amber, practically brown colored beer with some sedimentation and a small head that yielded decent lacing. The aroma was somewhat sour, malty, and with some grassy and light floral hops. The flavor was very rich for the style, caramel malts, lemon juice, vienna type spicing, and some honey. Very complex for a mere "pilsner." Mouthfeel was moderate but not very carbonated.

Comparing to something i know, i would compare this one to tuborg guld (usually called guldtuborg). TG has a 5.6% alc. and this one has 6%, but carries those 6% with great style. The higher alc. (than 4.5 or so which i am most used to) is used to make a great taste, not to just make it stronger. Or so it seems. I get the feeling of a strong, mature, "i know what i’m about" beer, and it tastes like more. The bottle is nice too. We are not into something extarordinary, but TG is a favorite of mine, and this one is just as good, or better. Probably better. Taste is like a good gold beer. None of the bad things have happened to this beer, it is like a gold beer ought to be. It would be a great thing to get drunk with, on a carpet in the woods, a hot summer day, in good company. It has these extra nuances to the taste that are really great. You can explore this one. It has more to it than the first impression. Great beer of its kind. Not the kind of beer i really like, but one of the best i’ve had in that category. (i’ve probably tasted 30-35 different kinds in that category)

[bottle from beers of europe] Aroma is Grapefruit, orange peel, pine. Full but drinkable body, dry bitter finish. Best pilsener ive ever had, thumbs up.