Artisan Brasseur Biere Ambree - Brasserie Castelain

wl0307

United Kingdom (England)

3.33/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Purchased at the Aldi supermarket. Coming in a 650ml flip-top brown bottle, BB 13/05/2009, served lightly-chilled in a bulb wine glass.

A: pours an elegant rose-red colour, coming with a thick and well-lasting light beige froth and constant flows of tiny bubbles.
S: mild burnt-brown-sugar, sour-sweet berry-fruit-flavouring and dried salted-prunes upfront, plus a powdery touch of the cherry-chocolatey sweet malty note; hops are muted at best. Not complex enough for a good biere de garde, yet the typical sour-cider-ish note does come through as the beer slowly warms up.
T: the foretaste rings a bell of a vienna lager really, albeit w/o the malt sweetness... then quickly succombing to a good level of hop bitterness and herbs, skirted by dried prunes with a touch of licorice at the back. Semi-dry and quite bitter in the end, lending some more-ish feel at the rear of the tongue.
M&D: medium-plus on carbonation, refreshing enough, and showing a good level of bitterness; alas, the flavour is somewhat mundane to make it a decent or desirable biere de garde.

Serving type: bottle

04-07-2008 20:12:44 | More by wl0307

joe1956

United Kingdom (England)

3.03/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

75cl bottle) Slightly hazy, amber colour with medium-sized off-white foamy head. Sweet, slightly toasted dark malty aroma with caramel and a distinctive touch of alcohol, backed by a light herbal hoppy note. Sweet and a bit sugary flavour, quite light bodied mouthfeel; soft on carbon. Dark malty, slightly toasted taste with caramel and a touch of liquorice; fairly slim, toast-malty, sweet and faint bitter finish (19.07.07).

Serving type: bottle

06-13-2009 17:27:11 | More by joe1956