Celestial Brewery

Brewed by Brasserie Celestial
Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Celestial Brewery, or to give its true name, Brasserie Celestial, is located not far off the La Tène Beach, on the western shore of Lake Neuchâtel, the French-speaking centre of Switzerland.

It is a new venture in the region and one with many exciting and ambitious plans. Founded by Peter Danielsson who had a dream to start his own brewery. Despite been in the software industry and a general “newbie” in the beverages industry, he finally managed to take the plunge in 2017 and set up a small brewing operation.

I say ambitious and exciting, as Celestial Brewery are producing a wide selection of great beers to the public, something that as a new brewery is quite brave, but I guess they must be very confident in the deliciousness of their brews. A wide selection of beers on offer include, some very interesting IPA’s, to a bière blanche (a white beer), an amber beer, and a coffee flavoured black beer.

So far the reception from the public has been very positive, proof that sometimes your dreams are worth pursing, and it is great to see an new brewery doing well in my adopted country of Switzerland. Bonne Chance!

Review: 33cl Bottle of Celestial, Le 7eme Ciel, India Pale Ale: 6.1% ABV

Translates into “7th Heaven” in English. Coming in a black bottle with some very dark imagery.

On pour got loads of carbonation, bubbling along, taking a little while for it all to settle down. What remained was a very frothy white head with a golden coloured beer.
Some good lacing as you would expect.
Not a bad looking beer when it all settled down.

Smell is malty, with an interesting floral, earthy, and piney smell. Also get the fruits and citrus.

On the taste, got a lots of hops in it hitting you from the start.

Nice big mouthfuls, with the hops lingering on the tongue.

Some fruit in background.

It’s strong enough for sure with the bitterness in the flavours there, but manageable enough to enjoy.

It is a regular IPA but you do get a more pronounced earthy and piney taste that kind of distinguishes it from other IPA’s, which I really liked. Stronger to taste.

Interesting beer, not sure what to think about it, has me a bit stumped. It is definitely a very tasty beer and with it some unique tastes for sure, but I would like to try this one again to give a better rating.

Not a bad beer and certainly worth checking out.

Review: 33cl Bottle of Celestial, Tène Out of Tène, Pale Ale: 5.1% ABV

Loving the name. Tène, of course, represents The La Tène (Celtic) period of time which was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland. Clever!

Get a very hazy looking beer with a nice golden orange look. Very carbonated and has a big frothy head. Good lacing.
Has a very hearty appearance which looks very appetizing.

Smell is quite strong, Oh, very strong tropical fruit aromas. Good stuff!

Taste is hoppy, IPA style, overloaded with the tastes of fruits, and I also get the malty flavour.
It is an alright beer, crisp in taste, well balanced, refreshing and does the business, goes down the hatch decent enough.

Liking the fruity taste to it, and although the hops are there they are very manageable. Nice and soft on the tongue.

Find it a very filling beer, and not a bad one from Celestial here.

Review: 33cl Bottle of Celestial, L’êlektron Libre, an Amber beer: 5.0% ABV

“Free Electron” in English, I guess the electricity will be bouncing around your body when in contact with this beer, firing up an unstoppable current of energy and pleasure. Perhaps!

A lovely frothy white head of beer, with a darkish cherry colour, on the pour. Looks nice. Actually looks better than that, looks fantastic!

Head maintains well, with some very good lacing apparent. Deep red hues run throughout the colour. it is definitely a good looking beer. Very inviting, just waiting to be drank.

A very toasty aroma, must be the caramelized malt which is great on the nose.

Getting the caramelized malt again, this time in the taste, making this beer very nice to drink.
This is a real craft beer, with the hops and the malts to the fore.

It is quite hoppy, but very manageable. Was very easy to drink.

Enjoyable and a beer that goes down very easily, with flavours that are both tasty and delicious.

Not a huge array of exotic flavours but what they do have in abundance, tasty malts, is good enough for me to give this beer the thumbs up.

Review: 33cl Bottle of Celestial, L’Intemporelle Blanche, a Belgian style witbier: 5.0% ABV

Translates to “Timeless”, the beer is styled as a Belgian witbier.

Hazy cloudy yellow golden colour, very carbonated and the frothy white head maintains.
Looks ok.

Smell is very fruity and sweet, quite strong on the nose.

Nice initial mouthfuls, very fruity in taste and quite appealing and delicious on the old taste buds.

Filling and hearty, went down well.

Yeah, a very nice beer, delicious, and the fruits coming out very strong in this beer.

Sweet, and a typical wheaty and expected coriander taste with a bitterness that isn’t going to bother. A decent beer that was enjoyable enough to drink. Not bad.

Review: 33cl Bottle of Celestial, Celestial, L’autre Monde, a coffee stout: 6.8% ABV

Celestial, L’autre Monde, “The Other World” in English. On the bottle I translated, “We can not please everyone – and do not try it! Our beers are uncompromising and push the limits of the stylistic requirements to accede to intense and expressive tastes. important notice: drinkers of tasteless bees to be absent!” Bit ballsy, lol!

On pour, massive carbonation, all over the place, very temperamental. All resulting in a massive frothy tanned head and a pitch black stout.

When it finally all settled down it looked pretty good.

Head maintained throughout, and some good lacing.

Aroma is the usual smell of a stout, a little sour as well.

Taste is very interesting. The chocolate taste is very prominent, like a rare dark chocolate, and sure enough I see on their website that they have used “Tree frog” an aromatic dark coffee from one of their local suppliers in Neuchâtel. This taste is quite strong, so now I see why they put the “disclaimer” on the bottle, ha!

Bit too bitter and strong for my liking, but it definitely is an interesting flavour.

Not a bad stout, not as layered as a Guinness but that’s not what it is going for, the hops are intense and the coffee and corn all contribute to a stout that has a good strong kick in it.
Worth a try for sure.

Review: 33cl Bottle of Celestial, Le Dernier Cri, a New England style IPA: 7.7% ABV

“The Last Cry” in English, this is Celestial’s version of a New England IPA. A New England IPA is meant to be a little smoother with less of a hoppy bitterness to their West Coast IPA cousins, the appearance is also meant to be a little hazier.

Very carbonated, jeez mad to come out of the bottle! A cloudy looking dark orange beer, with a very frothy head. Some lacing.

Malty and fruity smell, faint though.

Smooth creamy mouthfuls, goes down easy enough.

Not meant to be too hoppy, but I certainly got the hoppy taste, but not that bitter and very manageable.

Nice malty flavour, the fruits to the fore, bit of caramel.

I know that there is some who dont think New England IPA is a style in its own right. I am not so sure, but this beer here just seems like a regular IPA to me, albeit toned down a bit and more cloudy in appearance and feel. I am not getting that distinct style though.

A safe brew that’s not going to set the world alight, but this beer is not bad, is drinkable, and did the business.