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.