Estaminet

This is a fairly elusive beer, hard to find. There is a bar in a nearby town to me called Bellême that used to have the Pils version on tap but no longer does, much to my annoyance. I’ve had a whinge about this in the post on Palm.

I have had trouble buying any of the versions in shops, only ever could find the Triple but have recently managed to find the Lager.

So, to begin with; the Pils is the best of the three but it had the advantage of being on tap, the other two were in bottles. It’s 5.2% alcohol so just right for me. Lovely colour, good head, very refreshing. If only it was more readily found.

The Lager is the same alcohol content; to my unsophisticated palate it seems to have a slight taste of ginger; light colour, very refreshing, slightly unusual but still a damn fine beer. I shared one with a mate recently and he rated it very highly, 8/10.

The Triple is, as you would expect, quite a bit stronger, at 7% which is too strong for my taste. Darker colour than the other two, good head but not a fan of this one.

I rated them at 8/10 for the Pils, 7.5/10 for the Lager and only 5/10 for the Triple.

UPDATE MAY 2024. On a recent trip to the south of France, the Luberon, I stumbled upon a bar in a town called Lacoste that sold the lager on tap. So, I was able for the first time to have the draft version, having only ever been able to find the bottled version.

Damn fine beer (or DFB as I have decided to abbreviate it) and rated it 8/10 without knowing what I had given the Pils draft, which turned out to be the same rating.

Vedett Extra Pilsner & Extra White

Maes