Castle Lager

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

(can) Clear golden colour with a mid-sized foamy white head, leaving some lace. Dusty sweet malty and corny nose with sourdough and a whiff of hops. Light bitter flavour, light to medium body, smooth carbonated mouthfeel. Slightly sweet grainy taste, mild bitter finish. Not that bad as expected, even drinkable.

From a 650ml brown bottle in New Delhi, freshness dated five months out. Pours a clear straw color with lots of bubbles. A light body matched to a slightly grainy dry flavor. Very slight hop bitterness. Well carbonated. About average for lagers in India.

Bottle from Morrisons 18/3/06. I fancied a change from my recent predeliction for Belgian beers, so I got a 750ml bottle of Castle from the premium range of lagers at my local supermarket. I first became aware of Castle when they sponsored the South African Cricket team, and their brewery is right next to the ground in Cape Town, so this spurned my curiosity. I can honestly say I wish I hadn’t bothered. On pouring, it has a nice amber colour with a decent (though rapidly diminishing head), then for the true test, the first sip. "Ho hum" is a phrase which sums the pint currently sitting in front of me. The aroma is a little weak, but the taste is truly something else. My first thoughts were that it was very flat, almost as if it had been sitting in a glass overnight, distinctly watery with hardly any aftertaste at all. I suppose one thing you can say for it that it’s not particularly gassy, as some other macro lagers can be; which means you could drink a fair amount without feeling bloated - but at £2.05 a bottle, would you want to?

Bottle at Refresh, Manchester 24/08/2003 Clear golden coloured and slightly sweet on the palate. Lasting malt finish.

Bottle. Decent head with short duration tho. Color is golden. Aroma and taste is very hoppy

(11.5 oz bottle: $1.69 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) "MFG 18-Nov-05, EXP 18-Nov-06". Well, there you have it, Castle Lager is "brewed in perfect balance" and is meant to be consumed within a year. Mmm mmm, I can’t wait! Pours a crystal clear medium straw color with several trails of small carbonation bubbles rising progressively more quickly as they approach the small, white head sitting atop the beer. Clean, macro lager aroma and flavor across the board, mildly bitter, minimally sweet, not standing out in any way from other pale lagers. But this beer also isn’t showing any cardboard, and I consider that a victory worth noting. Dry on the palate, light in body, abundant carbonation, clean and refreshing. Nothing great, that’s for sure, quite like most American macros in its clean flavor, but at twice the cost.

Straw yellow with insignificant white head that subsides quickly. Faint sourish vegetable and grain aroma. Sweetish malt and maize flavour with almost no bitterness - maybe some hops accidentally fell into it? Watery with no body to speak of. Finish... What finish? Poor, poor, poor. Must be had very cold. I shudder to think of what it would smell and taste like if it got near room temperature.

Grainy aroma. Very weak. So you almost can’t smell how bad it is. Pale, yellow coloured with a thin white head. Taste is sweet, watery, bit grainy. Not much in it.