Castle Lager

Brewed by South African Breweries (SABMiller)
Style: Pale Lager
Sandton, South Africa

Ohh how I wish my first South African rating could be Castle Stout. The aroma is sharp metallic, grassy, and greasy stale bread. The body is a pale gold and holds a slowly diminishing thumb thick white head that is frothy and firm...not bubbly. Looks good in a pilsner glass. Fore is ever so slightly toasty grains, sweet corn-like notes with a dry barley aftertaste. and ever so faint corn-like sweetness in the far finish.

Can. This was probably past its use by date. Presents as a typical industrial lager. Cheap grassy hops in the nose. Light mouthfeel. Corn,skunky, boiled vegetables, metallic tang and down the drain it goes. Vile but this was presumably a bad sample - dunno if I could be arsed trying it again though.

Came in a 500 mL can. Not much of an aroma on this one. Pours a golden yellow with weak carbonation and slight white bubbly head. Flavor is of sweet golden corn, malt barley when cold and quickly becomes astringent and dull as it warms. Palate is a little watery and flat. Good beer, nothing special.

Pale golden. White head. Grassy aroma. Flavor from boiled vegetales. Little bitter. Little sweet.

Taste’s slightly better than an American macrobrew, but isn’t very far ahead either. It is lacking intensity and the finish is weak. Not much character, but nothing offensive here either. If I were in the store again I’d consider buying Bud over this, but at least with this you don’t look like such a loser. The biggest problem with this beer is there’s very little to critique it on, since it’s very weak and inoffensive.

Tin from friend. Aroma of maize, pale barley. Pale colour, small fast moving head. Looks like an industrial beer. Weak flavour, more maize than barley. Tastes like an industrial beer. Metallic finish, perhaps the can was too old, perhaps it’s just that I seldom drink beer from cans. There was a time when I drank this daily, and enjoyed it. I don’t know if it was the African heat, or it was better in those days. It’s better than Miller Lowlife, but not much better. This beer should stay in Seffrica, and not be drunk there.

[Bottled] Clear golden colour. Light sweetish nose, light hoppy. Adjuncts here, it’s maize alright. Light hoppy in flavour with a light body, yet sweetish, on the edge of being cloying at this level. Boiled vegetables. Bit papery bitterness.

450 mL can. Pale gold. Almost no head. Smell of honey. Very heavily carbonated. Not much taste. Watery. Metallic. Don’t get the corn thing. Maybe it’s too cold.