From the same chemistry lab that brought us Desperados, Heineken France present Adelscott. The tagline "Bière aromatisée au Malt à Whisky" might lead one to believe that this is an innocent affair, made using a whisky malt. Marston's produce something similar brewed with Golden Promise and it's quite harmless. Except there's more to the aromatisée here than just malt. The next ingredients listed are maize, sugar, flavouring, colouring and, lastly, hops. It's not looking good.The colouring does its job well, giving it an attractive russet shade. The first hint of the sugar comes on the nose, and spreads on tasting. Maybe not as intensely sweet as Desperados, but not far off.
Then there's the "flavouring". It's a sickly sort of artificial wood thing, with a hint of smokiness. Perhaps close enough to remind the drinker of whisky, while not actually tasting of it.
Despite claiming both beer and whisky as its ancestry, we're very much in alcopop territory here. If you thought Desperados was an interesting way of presenting tequila as beer then you might be fooled by this as well. If you actually enjoy the taste of beer, however, steer clear.
From the picture it's 5.8%. Is it at least dirt cheap?
ReplyDeleteBy the standards of beer in France, yes. But you'd be mad to pass by the wine section if you're just looking for a high ethanol-to-euro ratio. And even the crappest French wine scores higher for neckability.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like the kind of beer I would feel guilty about liking!
ReplyDeleteAnd with good cause.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds awful so not even for research purposes would I try it. You are braver than me TBN.
ReplyDeleteFools rush in where angels buy something decent. In my defence, I took this to the checkout with a couple of bottles of Orval.
ReplyDeleteThat beast actually predates Despeardos by a decade. It was all the rage in the late 1980s and many Vrench drinkers still believe that's the way scottish beer tastes like... It was fathomed at Brasserie de Schiltigheim (a Strasbourg suburb), which was then taken over by Heineken France, which made it a national brand.
ReplyDeleteAt the time, it clocked in at 6.6%, and there was a black version too.
I drank this beer last year in France. I did not like it at all and thought of it like a can of Beck's with a shot of bad scotch stirred into it.
ReplyDelete