Castelain Blond Biere

Brewed by Castelain
Style: Bière de Garde
Benifontaine, France

Serve in Stem glass, Tulip

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

As full of yeast chunks as stars in the night sky of a moonless night...Fresh cereal perfume the large, open field, as lavish flowers grow through a dry bread crumb soil...Musty pears lead us out wishing we could have stayed longer to better appreciate its depths...

Bottle from Super Saver. The cork popped with amazing force, showing me a gold, heavily carbonated beer with a 2-finger, fluffy white head. The aroma was hopcitric, with some honey, apricot, and barnyardy notes. The flavor was citric and spicy, with floral, some apricot, honey, and barnyardy cobwebby esters and yeast. Gets a little sweeter as it warms, but retains a refreshing palate and complexity. I used to hate this style, but now I really enjoy it.

Poirs yellow with a huge, fizzy, white head. Smells od hay, straw, and lemon with ins of grape, apple, pear and maple syrup.

Pale yellow body(blond) fills the snifter, almost clear with a deceptive short-lasting head. Obviously bottle-conditioned, coarse sediments are everywhere in suspension from the beginning of the pour, it's almost ridiculous. Aroma is pleasant straw (I wouldn't combine those 2 words usually, but this seemed like a good fit with the ensemble), light field hops. The sniff would gain a lot from being more intense. Fruity Biere de Garde: peaches and apples endow the tongue together with caramelic malts and subtle flowery hops. The finish is sweet like a pears pie. Body is medium and creamy. Nicely done beer, certainly not world-class, but like any Biere de Garde, this has a definite cachet to me, besides being effortlessly drinkable.

Bottle. Light golden beer with a nice whitish head. LIght malty aroma with a bit of spice. Malty flavor - some sweetness in the finish, with a bit of spice and grass. Crisp and refreshing. Doesn’t have a lot of spice and yeast component and borders on a pils. Clean. Not bad.

UPDATED: DEC 16, 2012 Bottle. Head is mostly lasting. Body is hazy light to medium yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain, cookie), with notes of peach, taffy, metal, papier-mache. Flavor is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Light to medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation.

750, corked and baled. Pours a crystal clear medium gold. Thick, fizzy platinum blonde head that falls quickly to film. Light stringy lace. Sweet, somewhat cloying aroma of grass, caramel, and toffee. Medium, slightly undercarbonated body. Sweet, cloying, grassy, caramelly, toffeeish. Definitely needs to scale back the sweetness in several directions. Long sticky sweet finish.

Pouring a hazy straw color with a fizzy white head, this has an earthy, barnyard aroma with hints of lemon-lime and spices. Soft mouthfeel, but dry and acidic as well. It’s got a sweet/tart taste to it, light toffee-like maltiness, citric but musty. Refreshing citric tart finish.

Light gold color. Large sized white fizzy head. Aroma is malty, spicy and a touch grassy. A medium bodied biere de garde. Malts are fruity and sweet. Touches of barnyard but very mild. Very smooth taste. Light and refreshing. Soft carbonation. Touch of citrus and grass. Very drinkable beer. A touch sweet. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Pours pale blond with thick frothy appealing head and leaves bountiful lacing. Aroma is clean and hoppy not dissimilar to a pils. Some light fruit, herbal and estery notes but not a floral beer--simply delightful. Similarly, the flavor array is clean, dry, and delicious yet a little soapy. Excellent palate: the carbo seems prickly at first but then it becomes chewy, slick, and slides down well. This would make a superb table beer, one to quaff regularly.