Caporal
Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.

It looks almost Australian, with a urine yellow body, poor head retention but good lacing.

Sweet florals come through in the aroma, but it's hardly pleasant.

It's definately not a good tasting beer, with bitter hops I'm not fond of. It's bland, but is very easy to drink due to its low carbonation and almost non-existant flavour (see: Stella, Corona).

As another reviewer had mentioned, if this was a locally brewed beer it might be met with praise for its European styling, but because it is infact a Belgian import and is so poor, I'm not about to buy it again when I can get another average pils or lager brew for half the cost that tastes almost the same.

hmm. pretty dodgy looking bottle. the front label isnt sitting quite right on the glass. says what i guess is beer in about eight different languages in an arch above a guy in a military uniform holding a mug of beer. e-mail contact is @skynet.be doesnt give the consumer a sense of stability with the brewery. and finally, batch # 01CE, no dating.

beer has a very light straw appearance, highly carbonated. pretty stable white 1cm frothy head.

unappealing vinegar like aroma. whats the stuff...acetic acid? some floral side too, but its just too hard to get past the tart vinegar.

surprisingly, the taste gets a bit worse. has the same tartness, but not as strong. other than that, it just sort of dies away. a thin malt and hop bitterness up front before it takes a turn to pour-down-the-drain-ville. pretty awful.

not much more to be said. unfortunately, "brewed in belgium" means a lot less to me now.

Caporal Original Belgian Pils - in a 330mL bottle, batch no. 09IC.

Appearance: Not much head, a fair amount of lacing, nice pale gold colour, contains yeast floaties.

Smell: Not much to speak of, maybe some sweet hops or honey - something a bit sweet about the smell.

Taste: Quaffable and refreshing. Nothing remarkable but a pleasant pilsener. You can't just rate it badly because it's Belgian and we expect more from them. Better than the majority of macros of the same style - Kokanee comes to mind. But not great by any means.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, easy drinking. Low, non-distracting effervescence.

Drinkability: If this were made by Tooheys or Carlton I'd drink it all the time. But it's a hard-to-find boutique Belgian beer so I can take it or leave it. Refreshing and quaffable.

Notes: I wonder why this is so popular? In Adelaide, I was served a Schoefferhofer in a Caporal glass, and the guy on the label is a WWII pilot by the looks of it, so I wonder why this beer has survived for so long, since it's only mediocre? Maybe it used to be better, or at least popular with the armed forces? It's potable, but not something the Belgians should be overly proud of.

A below average beer in general, and an about average Belgian Pils. Taste like Stella or something. Light, and quite dry, without any flavours which stand out, drinkable, and slightly refreshing character, its probably even a bit better than Stella artois.