Kasteel Cru - Product Review

When is a beer too fancy? That question is a common one these days as restaurants continue to look for ways to jack up prices with obscure beers and importers bring in ever more product. Case in point, Kasteel Cru, a fairly new arrival on the scene from Alsace, France made with champagne yeast and now selling at Whole Foods for $4.99 a bottle.

That's a fair amount of scratch in these times, even for a lifestyle beer which this clearly is. So we picked up a bottle to see what the hype is all about. The first taste is of a well made lager with a bit of an effervescent character. Sipping further, we found that the slight bitterness of the initial taste seemed to mellow into an almost bubbly quality. This actually counteracts the "beerness" of the beer and makes the taste less cohesive but certainly makes for a bit of lightness in the mouth feel.

We were curious how the beer held up over, say a half hour or sipping. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite hold the effervescence and gets a bit out of balance with more bitterness evident. The beer was passable with food and seemed best suited to cheese.

All in all, it's a good, not great beer, with a fancy pedigree and way-too-high price. Stick with the regular lagers unless you're showing off new found wealth for a friend.