Prestige
Brasserie Nationale d'Haïti (BRANA)

From a bottle lurking in my local beer store. Why am I so damn curious? It will be my downfall.

Hmmm. "World Beer Cup gold medal", eh? So the Holy Grail is made of corn. Ok. That was just the aroma.

Appearance: Clear, very pale, low to medium carbonation.

Taste? Not so bad as the aroma made out. Just very bland and again somewhat corny. Nothing at all to write about, the initial adjunct taste dissipates to nothing.

The finish: Haha, what's that?

Epilogue: Avoid. My drain is going to complain about what I am just going to put down it...

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a light to medium golden amber with a three finger white head that dissipates to a thick cap with nice lacing. Aroma of grainy pilsner malt, grassy hops, hints of corn. Flavor of bready malt with some grain, grassy hops, apple juice and some corn sweetness. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A pleasant Euro lager with suggestions of pilsner malt and continental hops. A little malt sweetness that is reminiscent of corn adjunct, but not sure if any is used in this recipe. Like the better adjunct lagers, this one is well integrated, slightly sweet and refreshing. I wasn't sure how Haiti was able to export beer, but the story of the Haitian brewery being destroyed in a storm with the beer now being brewed in the Netherlands may explain why. The profile is reminiscent of Heineken or other popular Euro lagers, but lighter in color, flavor density and with the mild sweetness. I'm jaded with noble hops, but I found this pleasant and quite drinkable. It will interesting to see closely this corresponds to the original recipe when the brewery opens again.

Clear light golden appearance with sparse lazy film of surface head. Grass, celery, tea. Light body and light carbonation, even a bit watery. Nothing offensive about this beer, just very little nose, taste, and even mouthfeel.

 

 

Pours a pale straw gold with ample head that dissipates to a light edge ring rather abruptly.

The aroma is mild. Perhaps a little biscuit. A hint of floral hops. Very mild.

Taste follows closely, but a little more strongly. Biscuity malt is subtle. The hop favour is lightly floral/grassy and is also quite subtle.

Light and airy. Moderate carbonation. Very easy drinking.

This is a decent homogeneous lager that goes well with the hot temperatures today. Better than many.

Pours a light golden color. Crystal clear. Frothy white head forms, then slowly dissipates until just a thin layer of foam remains.

Aroma has notes of white bread, sweet bread, and some lager skunkiness like you get from a Heineken. Light hoppy notes are there, but very subtle.

Taste is somewhat better than the nose initially implied with that skunkiness. There are notes of white bread, light toasted malt, some moderate sweetness and a light grassy hop character on the finish.

Feel is light, crisp, easy drinking. Bright, moderate carbonation. Semi-dry finish.

As Euro pale lagers go, this one is alright. I would drink it again.

 

 

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden color with a one finger head of white foam. The head has a good level of retention, fading slowly over time to leave a light bit of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is strongest of a bready and caramel smell mixed with a touch of graininess and a little bit of harvest fruit of pear and apple and some corn syrup sweetness.
Taste – The taste begins caramel, corn syrupy, and bready flavor mixed with a light graininess. As the taste advances the sweet does too, with more caramel and some light fruitiness of apple coming to the tongue. At the same time the breadiness gets more-doughy in nature, and with the changes that occur throughout the taste, one is left with a sweeter and somewhat more malty taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is medium in thickness and chewiness with a carbonation level that is medium. For the more bready and malty taste the feel is actually very good. It highlights the maltiness well, but still keeps it rather easy drinking.
Overall –A easy drinking lager with a sweeter more malty style.

 

 

I am on a Caribbean beer kick.... when i saw this one i had to try it....
it was good not great not my favorite. went down easy
nice hoppy bitterness then a litte of the skunkiness
not the most refreshing on a hot summer day but again not terrible

 

 

Again, I come to the aid of under-rated beers. (Although with Prestige, the average almost is correct.
Designed to be served so cold that it will quench a thirst on a hot day,
Being less than a barley purist and a saison fan, I don't mind adjuncts. But the good ones doing something with what they use. Prestige does not do it enough.

While it Looks something of a bleached blond, it is bubbly. Smells are mostly malt and rice and maybe some corn and wheat thrown in; but doesn't get very rich for 5.6%. Tastes are largely the same bland; but again slake thirst in a tropical clime. Feel and finish are thin, yet slightly cloying. Could this use more hops to improve its ratings? ... . Sure could.

While their website is only in French, here is what I gather. Their Haiti brewery was wrecked by a hurricane and they are now contracting out in Holland (I'm guessing with Heineken, since that is one of the two beers they distribute in Haiti. If my guess is correct, maybe Heineken can hop-up the recipe.) At any rate, Haiti (damaged terribly by hurricane and corruption) carries on. Hoping that their beer distribution is less corrupt than Illinois, I give Haiti National Brewery some OA Hugs.

Simply....it’s like drinking buttered bread. Truly bad.

Delicious. Reminds me of Red Stripe but possible better. Will seek out more ASAP

A: Crystal clear, golden straw color, 1/2 inch off white head, no lacing
S: Bread, floral hops, yeast
T: Clean, sweet bready malts, a nice hoppy bitterness then a litte of the skunkiness that is common with these beers.
M: Light
O: Really nice easy drinker. Just the kind of beer I would want to enjoy if I was in the Carribean.

 

Decanted from a 12 oz (355 ml) bottle into a custom taster pint; best by May 2019.
A: Pours a crystal clear, dark golden color with a three finger, foamy white head, solid retention, and fairly good lacing.
S: Peppery and corny aromas.
T: Semidry. Corny with a pretty good bite from peppery almost cumin bitterness throughout.
M: Light bodied with low carbonation. Drinks smoothly, crisply, and cleanly.
O: This is a solidly constructed lager. Found it quite refreshing and enjoyable.

 

A clear yellow fizzy adjunct lager . Smell was corn grain and malts. Taste was the same a bit of floral hops. A crisp mouthfeel with bready malt finish.

Picked-up a single bottle as part of a mixed six-pack at Kappy's in Norwell for $11.99. Have never heard of or seen this brew before. No bottled-on date to be found. Was very nervous taking the first sip. Not good, but not awful. I managed to finish it. Taste kind of reminds me of Moosehead, but not carbonated enough.

 

My friend Alejandro brought a case of these over, and this was a pleasantly surprising beer. It was delicious. Poured a nice full yellow color with a light head. Tasted great, very refreshing with a light malt flavor. Probably Haiti's version of a Red Stripe, but not quite as good. Went down very smooth.

 

 

Non-descript tasting beer. Just plain okay. Pours bright yellow with decent lace. Hint of apple scent. Moderate bitterness and smooth. Goes down nicely with little complex punch. Not awful but just alright.

 

An imported 12-oz bottle of Prestige resembles the shape of a Red Stripe; easy to grip, store and stand in shelves of fridges, which is a space-saver; always a plus for OCD and highly organized individuals like myself. Bottle's updated label incorporates the colours of Haiti's flag (red and blue) in metallics, encircled in gold that captions two winning medals at the World Cup of Beer in 2000 and 2012 under the category of American style lagers. 5.6 ABV and 168 calories, nearly equivalent to a Blue Moon minus the carbs (0g).

Appearance: Thin white head (about 1/2 inch; faint after 2-3 minutes), pale golden yellow (through and through), tiny rising CO2 bubbles at moderate speed, somewhat sparse but consistent.

Smell: Barley hops, hints of vanilla and perhaps honey.

Taste: Light malts, bitter but sweet grainy; simple but fairly bold; clean palate.

Mouthfeel: Thin body, highly carbon, minimal aftertaste and pleasant.

Drinkability: Refreshing and crisp; easy to go down. Best served very cold; typical for Caribbean beers to deal those high temperatures all year round.

Overall: Nothing really bad to say about this beer. While it may not have the next unique-feel to seasoned beer drinkers myself alike, it definitely captures the consistency and refreshing taste needed to survive the Caribbean sun in which this beer was intended. It is worth mentioning that it also goes great with food, for gastronomists who want the best of both worlds, to taste their brew and taste their food without any hinderance of the two at all. For a country more known for its rum and coffee, it surprisingly beats out many brews in the American lager category and believe it is quite deserving of its achievements. Cheers!

This brilliantly clear, brightly polished golden nectar looks exactly right for something named "Prestige". If only some of the head would stick around we even could have said it's appropriately crowned. But alas, the lack of foam despite the noticeable presence of bubbles points to the fact this may have less esteem than its title suggests...

There's certainly nothing reputable about this aroma! It's hard to imagine a bouquet more affected (infected?) by the use of additives. Out: fresh bread or cereal grain notes; In: corn syrup and white icing sugar. It's as cloying as no-name brand liquid honey but also has a foul stench to it, like driving by the waste treatment facility on a hot summer day.

If that sounds like hyperbole to you, just wait until it warms up. The difference between fridge and room temperature is like night and day; all kinds of the beer's shameful secrets are revealed once it loses its chill. I'm not sure what are the actual contents of this bottle but I'd bet a pot of 'bouillon' there's more than just four ingredients.

Somewhere there's a little voodoo doll version of me, pins stabbed into the taste buds and liver. OK, so drinking Prestige isn't literally painful, but it really isn't pleasant. The flat, starchy texture and sweet corn flavours of the adjuncts completely overrule any legitimate malt presence and the aftertaste is like wet cardboard. Even a small stubby bottle is un-finishable.

What's the opposite of Prestige? Answer: high quality beer. This Haitian offering drinks like someone put a hex on it. As if the good folks on that island haven't had to go through enough. Maybe in such dire conditions people are simply happy to have any kind of cold, bubbly respite from the world... that's the only excuse for this I can think of.

A: Pours a clear gold with a small fizzy white head. Head disappears immediately with no lacing.

S: Whoa. Sickly sweet graininess. Like overripe corn. Hmph.

T: Pretty much the same as the aroma but not as pronounced. Super sticky sweet corn and hard candy flavors.

M: Light bodied, very sweet.

O: Damn, this has to be the sweetest AAL I've ever had. It literally made me cringe the first time I took a sip. It's like corn sugar water basically. Rough to drink, makes me want to gag. I'd rather have budweiser.

 

 

Pours clear, straw yellow in color, with 1/4 inch head. Taste is honey and straw. Very light bodied. Not a bad beer, but nothing I would go out of my way for. Drinks like a typical adjunct lager.

Drank it at a party with a bunch of Hatians. I feel like my love of beer has been raped.