I ended up at a friends house the other day after a leisurely afternoon strolling through a massive, street Brocante (car boot sale type thing) in Ambazac, a town about 20 minutes from our home.
It wasn't long before the beer came out and, knowing I am rather passionate about beer, he'd gathered together a selection of beers he thought I might not yet have stumbled upon.
First was a wheat beer, in a champagne bottle. Powerfully carbonated, rather bland and not at all wheaty. That went quickly.
Next though was a little surprise of a beer. Corsican. Chestnut.
What interested me was the mention of chestnut flour on the label (farine de chataigne) and how that could be involved in a mash tun without setting solid and screwing things up pretty rapidly.
It poured well giving a nice, off white head that hung about for a while but didn't lace the glass to the end.
Aromas - I had my nose stuck in this for a while trying to figure it out, it was different and to me there was a subtle hoppiness I couldn't place. Malty indeed and the chestnut was apparent. IMO more apparent than my
beer brewed with chestnuts.
Not bitter, not sweet and quite difficult to easily classify it really but I'll say this, when I finished it, I fancied another one.
For another review of this "different" beer check out
Beer Demon.
The following beer was an Amber from Fischer - it was fu**ing awful!!! Artificial, Sweetened, Crap pop flavour plant extracts (unspecified) and citrus fruity additives, no hopping - hence the clear bottle... utter shit and everything I hate about commercial beer. Imagine a shandy made with shit beer and really crap pop, that's about it. Dear Fischer (Heineken I have since learned), Go Fu** Yourself.
