Lagerboy speaks – Kasteel Cru
Usually Lagerboy tries something new and undiscovered for this column, but sometimes the gassy yellow stuff has passed his lips before. Kasteel Cru is just such a beer, having been sampled by various BeerCasters over the years – and always with interesting results. It seems to be a conversation-starter, that’s for sure. Produced in Alsace by the Brasserie Licorne, the main selling point for this lager is the addition of something quintessentially French – Champagne (well, champagne yeast).
At 5.2%abv, this rather refined ingredient seems to be added to give the beer an extra acidity and sparkly taste – the official website describes the “immediate zing from the carbonation”. When you first pour it, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a rather oddly-coloured glass of wine – bubbles rise up in streams, the faint yellowish tinge just about visible to remind you that it’s grain-based, not grape. It’s so pale you almost want to give it a few steak dinners to toughen it up a bit.
As a result, Kasteel Cru has a strong, gassy nose and a really sharp, bitter taste. The Hallertau hops give it that bitterness, and it combines with the champagne yeast to unsurprisingly give an almost wine-like taste. If previous Lagerboy entries have confused by describing beer as ‘tasting green’ – then this one without doubt tastes green. It’s one of those things – if there wasn’t the c-word plastered all over the bottle (as it were), would you sense there was champagne in there? Lagerboy certainly thinks so.
It’s an interesting beer, distributed in a reassuringly hefty bottle designed by expert glassmakers in Riems. The contents are certainly refreshing, because of all the sharpness going on as a result of the ingredients. But is it that nice? Well, I’d have to say no it isn’t – no question bitter zingy lagers are eminently preferable to sweet malty ones, but Kasteel Cru maybe pushes things a bit too far. The smell verges on the vinegary, and the delicate champagne taste gives way far too quickly to an aftertaste that verges on the unpleasant.
