Lausanne my favourite game

I loved the little city of Lausanne, on the north shore of Lake Geneva. A haven of old-money genteelness it's like a clean version of Paris in miniature, built vertically into a mountain. Below the cathedral which towers above the town, but still a long way up from lake level, is Brasserie Du Château, a casual little brewpub which was quiet when we dropped in one afternoon for pizza and beers.

The range is quite impressive for such a small place: six regular beers and one seasonal. I went for their IPA first: it came from the cask but was exceedingly cold and a rather disturbing murky brown colour: the brewer could do with brushing up on the finer points of fining. And unfortunately there's a yeasty sourness in the flavour, but only slightly. Other than that it's very good: an assertive bitterness up front followed by peachy fruit flavours. Quite sessionable, all in all.

L-R: Rousse, Blonde, IPA

Most of the rest were nitrokegged. I reckon this took away a lot of the character in Rousse, a red-brown beer which offers a nice caramel and hops combo but is perhaps too smooth for its own good. I had expected Brune to be similar but it's more like a stout: dry with lots of roast plus a solid dose of chocolate. The fizzy Blonde was a relief after the nitro and packed lots of perfume and spice.

Skipping the Blanche and moving into the more esoteric end of the range, there's a permanent Ginger beer. It presents as headless and dark gold coloured and has very little beeriness about it. You could pass this off as Canada Dry quite easily. Its powers of refreshment can't be argued with, however. There was more ginger in the seasonal beer: Ginger and Green Tea, in fact. It wasn't particularly spicy though. Brown, light of body, tannic and refreshing say my notes.

Service was friendly, the food was excellent. Along with Brasserie Bavaria mentioned in the previous post, Brasserie Du Château is a must for the beer traveller in Lausanne.