The Groupe Castel, founded in 1949 as a wine distribution company with a strong affinity for the African market, has also developed a beer branch in its history, with Castel and Flag being the most prominent brands, represented in some twenty African countries. The bottle I have here in front of me, a generous gift from Ruben and his African wife Kaidatou, comes from the only brewery in Mali (founded in 1986), producing the beer for the Groupe Castel - owner of this brewery. Considering the civil war still going on in Mali, I imagine it was not easy to obtain this bottle so I am sincerely grateful for such a 'difficult' country tick... Thick and small-bubbled, bit irregular, tightly and thickly plaster-like lacing 'blanket' of snow white foam on a crystal clear, warm 'old gold' coloured beer with somewhat ochre-ish tinge and lively visible sparkling. Aroma of dusty old chicken food, soggy corn bread, wet cardboard, unsugared bubblegum, withering grass, straw, old and spoiled dough, rusty iron, vague hint of sweaty socks somewhere. Spritzy onset, lots of minerality from (artificial) carbonation, neutral to vaguely sweetish, with a corn-slick, bit 'glueish' mouthfeel, arguably feeling a tad thicker than the average African standard lager; grainy middle, with this corn aspect adding further 'glueishness' and slickness as well as a soggy chicken food flavour - including a dim sourish undertone, a bit more outspokenly so than I am used to from this segment of beers. A light powdery breadiness lingers at the back, not unpleasantly so I must admit, but so does a metallic 'zing' - followed by empty graininess, as there are not nearly enough hops in here to convey any meaningful bitterness. Typical industrial standard lager, the one 'genre' of beer that can be found all over the world since the previous century, with a weird sourish aspect to it (as in spoiled soup), a strong metallic side and a rather 'dusty' and stale aroma, but also a lingering doughiness or breadiness at the back which I would consider a redeeming factor, the only one perhaps... Crappy, as expected, but I had even worse.

Sample, thanks to Nisse. Somewhat clear darker golden, smaller white head. A bit cellar nose, slightly bready sweet. Milder bitterness, hints of sweetness, a bi yeatsy feel. Lighter. Not bad at all.

Sample many thx to CH-303 and so on;) 2020-01-02 Göteborg AR: Belgian Blond aroma, wee bread and some sweet yeastiness AP: clear copper, wee head F: Belgian Blond aroma, wee bread and some sweet yeastiness, bread wee cardboard