Pelforth Brune
Brewed by Pelforth (Heineken)
Style: Brown Ale
Mons-en-Baroeul, France
Pelforth is a French brewery from Mons-en-Barœul, not far from the city of Lille and the Belgian border, in the North of France.
First established in the early 1900’s by three brewers from Lille, Louis Boucquey, Armand Deflandre and Raoul Bonduel, it was originally called Pelican after a popular dance at the time, the image of the animal still adorning the bottles of today. In 1972 the name was changed to Pelforth and in 1988 the small brewery was bought by the Dutch brewing giant, Heineken.
Pelforth now produce over twenty varieties of beers, including seasonal ones, but it’s their Pelforth Blonde and Pelforth Brown (Brune) that are their big sellers, both widely available all over France.
A recent re brand, initiated by Heineken, has seen the traditional pelican symbol on its red label replaced by a more up to date pelican style, and highlighting the various tastes of the beer rather than that its just another dark bitter beer, hopefully appealing more to the fairer sex.
Review: big 65cl bottle of Pelforth Brune: ABV: 6.5%
Coming in a pretty nice looking 65cl bottle with a swing cap
The appearance was of a nice enough dark brown colour with ruby red highlights that had a head which reduced dramatically in size.
Some decent lacing but overall nothing special to look at.
For the aroma I got a sweet initial smell of caramel malts but overall not a whole lot on the nose, very faint and not a lot going on.
On Taste got a very smooth drink, very easy to drink, nice mouthfuls, very smooth.
Not strong tasting, but did gets hints of caramel and plums and other fruits, but overall, truth be told, I struggled to get any real taste, some malts…….not much else, and no presence of hops.
Dark chocolate as well. A Coca cola style taste, lots of malts but no alcohol.
Very smooth, pleasant and nice to drink, but for me it doesn’t taste at all like a beer but more a strong version of coke with added sugar. Bland and disappointing all things considering.
Some critics have compared this to an English ale, particularly Newcastle Brown Ale, while some even have found a likeness to porter. For me I just cant see these comparisons at all, yeah perhaps in appearance but definitely not in taste. The Pelforth Brune, for me, is just too sweet, far too sugary, too smooth and flavourless, and nothing at all like an English ale or porter. Disappointing.
But bad news arrived in the form of the World War and the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. Moriz von Kuffner, Ignaz’s son, was forced to sell his business because of his Jewish background. It was sold for a rather low price of 14 million Austrian schillings (about 36 million Euros at today’s values) to Gustav Harmer, who was also forced out of the business for two years after the war. After the liberation by the Allies, the brewery was temporarily managed by the Russians, before the Harmer family managed to legally prove their purchase. The heirs of Moriz von Kuffner, were also compensated for their loss.
Bought cheap in Aldi. Comes in a striking yellow can, which has some interesting lettering, looks like it could be a fruit drink. 
For the taste I got very nice mouthfuls, of light grains and sweet malts.
The brewery was founded in 1982 by Pierre Gobron and Christian Bauweraerts, two brothers-in-law, as a hobby. In September 2006, the brewery was bought by the brewery group Duvel Moortgat, this move helping the small brewery to enlarge and also to export to new destinations. 
Also found the fresh coriander on the nose.
Grimbergen is the brand name of a variety of Belgian abbey beers. Originally brewed by Norbertine monks in the Abbey of Grimbergen since the 12th century, it is now brewed by two different breweries in Belgium and in France. Brouwerij Alken-Maes Brewery located in Alken, north of Brussels, Belgium, and the Kronenbourg Brewery in Strasbourg, France. 
To further feck things up big nasty Heineken took over Alken-Maes in 2008. As part of the takeover the brand name Grimbergen was transferred to the Carlsberg Group, but Heineken was given a long-term license to use the brand name in Belgium. As a result of this messing around, Alken-Maes brews the beer for the Belgian market, while Carlsberg is responsible for the marketing outside Belgium of the beers that it brews under the Grimbergen name at its Kronenbourg Brewery located in France. So in essence you can find two Grimbergens, just depending on which side of the border you are. I am not sure if they taste similar or not, but I’d wager they do.
The appearance was of a clear golden colour with a big frothy white head.
Fantastic tasting beer with a lot of nice flavours. Very creamy. Very crisp and refreshing mouthfuls
Nicknamed “Oetti”, the brewery is well known for producing vast amounts of cheap beer which can be easily got in all the major supermarket chains. Basically it is a German version of “stack em high sell em cheap”, and for people with only coppers in their pockets and students, well….. this is the perfect beer. They dont do draft and its rare to find in a pub. But in case you are worried, all of the Oettinger beers are brewed in accordance to the “Reinheitsgebot”, the German purity law of 1516, the standard used to maintain good quality beer in Germany.
All this has made the brand a runaway success, easily becoming Germany’s go to beer for getting pissed on the cheap. It is also exported as far away as Australia and closer to home in Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. 
Has a good beery smell, a bit faint but good all the same, yeasty, grainy….