La Goudale Biere
Brewed by Les Brasseurs De Gayant
Style: Strong pale ale
Douai, France
Brewed in Douai, a small city in the north of France, by the Gayant Brewers.
La Goudale, a blonde beer, is made with a recipe dating back to the middle ages, and also uses specially flavored hops carefully chosen from Flanders, has been brewed since 1994.
The Goudale got its name from the 14th century, where all good beers were called “Goudale” (Good Ale).
The brewery have many brands such as Amadeus, Tequieros, La bière du Démon, St Landelin but their main product is La Goudale.
La Goudale is sold widely in supermarkets in the North of France and has won numerous awards down through the years, most notably gold at the World Beer Challenge in Portugal, 2014.
Review: 50cl Can of La Goudale Biere: ABV: 7.2%
Coming in a very interesting shiny can that had a lot of distinctive black lettering. Stands out, even if its not obvious what exactly it all means!
On appearance got a hazy amber orange colour that produced a pretty large frothy white head, which does die over time but maintains overall, albeit small. Some lacing. Nothing special to look at.
Smells of caramel and the usual blond aroma of yeasts, sweet malts, grains and with a bit of citrus, nothing special.
No hanging around with this beer, on initial taste you can immediately get the alcohol, straight in with an aggressive taste………lots of yeast and citrus lightning up the taste-buds!
But no real discernible after taste. All in the front taste.
Not nice, too harsh on the palate. Very bitter. Fuck me, its hard. Disgusting even!
Second can much more manageable. Deep tasting hops. Sweet Malts.
Tastes much better. A slow burner.
Creamy bodied.
In the end I kind of liked it, don’t know if it was the alcohol kicking in and the initial shock with the first can but it was ok, albeit the second can, similar to a Belgian strong pale ale.
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. 
Coming in a pretty nice looking 65cl bottle with a swing cap
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.
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