St. André

New Bastide beer, dedicated to rugby, a sport popular in southwestern France because of its loose (and to a certain extent, historical) connections with Britain – including the fact that the brewer of Bastide is an Englishman himself. Pale greyish white, moussy, medium thick, stable head on a clear, deep caramel brown beer with mahogany glow. Aroma of sugared tea, brown bread, dried fig, scones, cooked apple, clove, hints of anise, old raisins, nutmeg and bayleaf. Sweetish fruity onset but not very estery, rather malt sweet, with accents of pear and fig; soft carb, very caramelly malt profile with even a chestnutty accent and some residual sugariness. Develops a herbal, bit tea-ish hop bitterness in the end, but dark dried fruit and caramel impressions linger about. English brown ale of the sweeter kind – almost reminiscent of a Belgian dubbel, in a non-spiced, cleaner and far less yeasty way.