Castelain St Léonard Bière de Garde

Formerly brewed at Castelain
Style: Bière de Garde
Benifontaine, France

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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On draft pour. Yellow golden color with a light head. Not much going on here for a bier de garde. Tastes more like a clean lager. Crisp.

shared ancient bottle with eczematic in a park. unsurprisibly soft and mellow for a beer about 10 years ols. rich mahogany. yoghurt coated raisins, rum n raisin, wood-aged port, hazelnut, vanilla yoghurt. amazingly complex

if I trust eczematic, I should have aged this one ...

this was a VERY old bottle from the dusty depths of Bert’s Bierhuis, Utrecht. The label was all faded and ripped - I’m guessing at least 5 years, probably 10 or something. So the alcohol content was probably a fair bit higher than 5.9. after a bit of a struggle with the decomposing cork, we poured it out and it was a beautiful clear red-gold, with a creamy, lumpy eggshell-coloured head. the taste was incredible: impossibly smooth, rich and woody. i tasted caramel fudge, vanilla, rum-n-raisin icecream, and just plain tasty full malt. still managed to finish really dry and lemony. this was one of those beer experiences when you get down on your knees and give thanks to the gods of beer.