Champale Golden
Pabst Brewing Company

 

 

What made the company change , Golden Champale from the green bottles, to the clear bottles. That was the worst thing you could have done!!!!! I was a loyal Champale drinker. The clear bottles, don't have the quality, that the green bottles presented. I know others that have stop drinking it also. The clear bottles , taste like sugar water. What a let down!!! So I am contacting you, wondering is it possible, to order the Golden Champale (original ) in the green bottles. You should really consider , putting them in the green bottles. I know for some reason the color of those bottles, make a difference. Take a survey among your Champale drinkers, and see what you come up with .

24 ounce bottle into lager glass, bottled on 7/23/2018. Pours crystal clear pale golden yellow color with a foamy soda off white head with poor retention, that reduces to a nothing very quickly. No glass lacing, fair amount of streaming carbonation, and clinging bubbles on the glass. Okay appearance. Aromas of white grape juice, roses, wine, cracker, corn, white bread, white sugar, and light herbal/grassy hops. Nice aromas with good balance of grapes/wine flavors, pale malt, sugar, and slight herbal hop notes; with good strength. Taste of big white grape juice, roses, wine, cracker, corn, white bread, white sugar, and light herbal/grassy hops. Mild herbal/grassy bitterness, and grape tang/tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of white grape juice, roses, wine, cracker, corn, white bread, white sugar, and light herbal/grassy hop notes of the finish for a good bit. Very nice robustness and balance of grapes/wine flavors, pale malt, sugar, and slight herbal hop flavors; with a solid malt/bitter/tartness balance, and no cloying flavors after the finish. Very crisp/clean finishing. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitter/tartness and carbonation. High carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth, fairly grainy, and lightly syrupy/acidic/tangy balanced mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 5.4%. Overall this is a very tasty flavored malt liquor. All around nice robustness and balance of grapes/wine flavors, pale malt, sugar, and slight herbal hop flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink. Very flavorful and not watery for the ABV. Not overly sweet from crisp carbonated dryness. Tastes like a wine cooler more than a malt liquor, but I rate on enjoyment for weird stuff like this. They did really well for whatever they were going for on the champagne-like flavor profile. A very enjoyable offering.

Something that should have never existed, though I guess there is a limited marked. Tried it, in fancy bottles, in Indianapolis once. Beer should be beer flavored. Period.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding this was the brightest bright spot in my recent hellish roadtrip to Savannah, GA. Been looking for it for years, ever since I was little and my uncle would regale me with tails of a mystical beverage, marketed to the very poor, that was part malt liquor and part champagne.

I was expecting something awful--along the lines of the mythical Meister Brau, which I still haven't found--is surprisingly pretty okay. Not just a regular malternative–you can pick up definite nodes of champagne yeast, along with big nodes of artificial grape flavoring that taste not like dimetapp but like actual grape, only artificial.

I originally entered Champale Golden and Pink Champale on beeradvocate years ago and the bros turned it down, saying something like "no way dude" because I'd mentioned it was flavored with grape. I think I said something in my review that offended them along the lines of "historically, it was the first malternative", but the truth remains that it was, and still is - if you can find it (it's production is limited now).

Champale Malt Liquor, starting with "Dry Champale" in 1939, was, in fact, advertised as a "flavored malt beverage" back in the '60's.

More importantly, my review also gave a quick history of the brew, noting that it was brewed in Trenton, NJ, and that it helped save brewing in the area by allowing other "dying" brands to stay alive. Additionally, it was marketed directly to African Americans as a "poor man's champagne", which was somewhat unusual at the time, and still retains a high level of interest.

So what's it like? Golden. Clear. Highly carbonated. Fruity and sweet with notes of grape. That's about it. I wouldn't call it balanced, but I really wouldn't call it "cloying" either. It's an interesting and unusual beer that also has a lot of history behind it. If you can find it, you should try it just to see what it's all about.

 

 

 

 

 

Unearthed from a dank cooler in a run-down liquor store in Wood River IL, outside of St. Louis. "Celebrate tonight with Champale... a finely brewed and unique flavored malt beverage in a class of its own." Clear 24 oz. bottle, neck stamped 120610.

Into a large mug, it sizzles with lively carbonation, but not really enough to emulate champagne. Anemic pale gold color, with a finger of white foam that rapidly fades to a thin ring around the sides.

Smells like 7-up and white grape juice, definitely artificially sweetened. Tastes and feels very similar to 7-up... fake lemon lime, sweet, bubbly, astringent. There's a undercurrent of swill in the aftertaste, along with a chalky smarties candy sweetness. I'm getting flashbacks to college, briefly experimenting with Tequiza, Mike's, and similar artificially fruity alcopops. Doesn't really come across as a Malt Liquor with all the sweetener and "flavoring" dumped in. Four Loko and the like have gotta be edging Champale off the market...