Tall, dark and fizzy

The frosted black 75cl bottle is stately, and the name "Abbaye de Vauclair Imperiale" very grand. The wording beneath reading "French lager with orange peel" lets the side down a little, however, and we won't mention that it was purchased in Lidl for pocket change.

Its appearance poured lives up to that of an orangey lager: it's clear and fizzy, with an amber tint. Mind you, it is 7.5% ABV so a certain level of colour depth is to be expected. The aroma is clean and crisp with a hint of oily concentrated orange. Clean and crisp continues in the flavour, barely troubled by the orange and with the tiniest hint of raspberry and cherry, like pink bubbly. It was my first beer on a Friday evening and did a great job of washing the week's stresses out of my parched gob. There is very little sign of the hefty alcohol, something that should have been particularly problematic in a lager but -- hooray! -- wasn't.

I have a lot of time for this. I hadn't seen it before and supply may be limited, but I reckon it could serve a multitude of purposes: as a food accompaniment, a summery lager, birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs, whatever. Despite the imposing presentation it's not to be taken seriously. Just enjoy.