Panda from Colin. Danke. Hazy pale dull orange. Frothy foamy translucent white head. Aroma is fruity with a slightly vinous and herbal edge. The NZ hops come through - gooseberry, herbs and a vinous edge. This is over a fruity base. Light-medium bodied. Slick. Soft-fizzy carbonation. Long dry somewhat astringent finish. Good stuff.

France has been brewing beer in especially the northern regions (east and west) for ages, but joined the 'new' craft beer movement relatively late - yet in every 'département', artisanal microbreweries are to be found today, most of which remain fairly obscure especially outside of their own locality; Fauve, however, has rapidly made a name for itself since its foundation in 2019, possibly because it is located in Paris, but hopefully also for its quality - I would not know, because I never had a Fauve beer. Until today, when opening a can of vanilla-flavoured imperial stout, apparently one half of a duo, the other one being a chocolate stout; in this one, vanilla has been applied in two different ways, but I cannot find an ingredients list so I am unable to say whether lactose was used or not - a main characteristic in distinguishing actual 'pastry stout' from just 'flavoured stout' in my book, but of course there is no official ruling about this anywhere. Fairly thick, pale greyish beige, unevenly membrane-lacing, quite dense head, slowly showing 'gaps' here and there in the centre but otherwise quite stable, in spite of being reduced to a thin ring in the very end; black robe with a seemingly burgundy shade but this is only visible under bright light. Aroma of the oldskool vanilla custard my grandmother used to treat me with when I was a child, high quality vanilla ice cream, toffee, caramel sauce, cappuccino, praliné, dark chocolate as can be expected, melting dame blanche, brandy, bayleaf, golden raisins, burnt croissants, a much 'deeper' touch of rubber or asphalt luckily remaining very subtle, vague clove. Dense, sweet onset with subtle sourish touch - as in blackberry coulis, but sweeter, with more golden raisin, candied cherry and candied date to it; soft carb, full body, oily and smooth - but perhaps not as 'heavy' as the ABV would indicate. Layers of toffee, brioche, mocha and a slice of dark chocolate fill the mouth, evidently flavoured with vanilla which in this case is fortunately still very powerful and not yet faded at all (as it tends to do). Roastiness remains subordinate to a mostly caramel-like sweetness, with a dark chocolateyness lingering too, but in the end is strengthened by a leafy hop bitter note and - alas because I dislike this - an astringent, cheap brandy-like alcohol heat and wryness, disrupting the flavours at an early stage. The greatest postmodern imperial stouts in the world, flavoured or not, carry this level or ABV or even more without revealing it so explicitly - so it is clear that at least in this respect, we are at a lower level of quality here; I would not call this a true pastry stout either, because adding a flavouring of vanilla (even in two different forms) to an imperial stout does not magically turn it into a pastry stout. This is a solid vanilla-flavoured, U.S. style "impy", nothing more, nothing less - but even despite the shortcomings I described above (especially that alcoholic wryness which I passionately hate), it has a very alluring nose, correct thickness and audacity and a decent consistency of flavour, so it probably still belongs to the top strong stouts I had from France so far. It does, however, leave me unconvinced whether to seek out more Fauve beers or not - maybe I should give their IPAs a try...

25th April 2026
Panda thanks to Cloin. A mild haze on this gold beer, a decent bubbly pale cream colour head. Airy palate, mildly dry, decent fine minerally carbonation. Slightly thin bodied but smooth pale malts, a nice light sweetness. Cooling pine, a pinch of hop spice. Riwaka exotics, an unexpected trace of banana, quite fleeting. Floral fruits. Light finish. Complex and hard to pull apart, no surprise when Riwaka is involved. Nice job.

25th April 2026
Panda thanks to Cloin. Near clear gold beer, decent pale cream colour head. A fairly soft palate, decent fine carbonation emerging late on. Light malts, fairly sweet tasting. Soft pine into candyish hop fruits, Krush tropicals quite obvious but sweeter than the norm. Candyish peach on the back end. Quite a sweet affair overall, for me it needs more hop bite.

Can in London - picked up from the brewery taproom in Paris. Pretty good, fairly clean, notes of white grape, soft bitter citrus rind, a nip of pine needle. Light sweetness, pale bread. Some melon, tangerine, nip of white peach. Drinks nicely.

15th April 2026
Panda thanks to Cloin. A mild haze on this gold beer, decent bubbly pale cream colour head. Light palate, mildly dry, good fine minerally carbonation. Light but smooth pale malts, a forward creamy sweetness. Soft cooling pine. Dominant Dolcita coconut cream here, a touch of slightly ripe pineapple. Soft background citrus, tangerine rising to the top. Light finish. Nice DIPA, enjoying the forward coconut Vs the citrus.

Tap at Prague Beer Fest 2026. Hazy golden body, off-white head. Creamy, sweetish, peachy aroma. Simple taste, smooth, sweetish, peachy, alcohol relatively well hidden. but likely a bit past its prime.

Tap at Prague Beer Fest 2026. Hazy golden body, off-white head. Creamy, smooth aroma, herbal-piney notes and .citric touches. Similar body, on the creamier side, maybe vague coconut, honeyish, nice herbal notes, bit citric, on the sweeter side. Qutie good really.