Review: La Bouffonne bière blonde (France)

It's not every day that I review a beer from France, because France IS the land of wine and cheese, not beer and chocolate like their next door neighbours in Belgium. But with a silly name like La Bouffonne (The Buffoon) and a cartoony bottle reminiscent of Asterix in a sense, why not pick it up? Even if it's over $5/bottle? Looking throughout the bottle's colourful label, I'm looking for brewery information, and all I'm getting is "brewed for in France". But doing a quick Google search, it appears to actually be brewed in Belgium by the same guys who do Delirium Tremens, Brouwerij Huyghe, so that's pretty cool!

Appearance: Pours a very hazy golden straw, incredibly fizzy and carbonated, thick amount of off-white head that actually diminishes quickly as it fizzes only to get even foamier every time I take a sip.. hmmm..

Aroma: This appears to be a Belgian Pale Ale, but this beer isn't really giving off any aromas.. wayyyy too light, especially if you're a Duvel fan like I am. A light lemon and honey sweetness is in there, lightly grassed, a bit of a pungeant alcohol scent mistifies, but that's about all I can really smell in this beer, and my senses aren't off tonight either!

Taste: Tasting this, I wouldn't be surprised if this was actually brewed in France rather than Belgium, it just misses something. It has a bit of an overly sweet.. almost champagne sweetness to it. Following the supposed champagne notes, I find a bit of a bitterness for a lingering aftertaste, a slight amount of breadiness and some citrus fruity notes of apple and lemon in there. Meh.

Overall Thoughts: For a Belgian Pale Ale, I expected more, more zest to it.. it's pretty average and leaves an annoying bitter aftertaste on your tongue long after the beer is sipped on. If I had to choose between this and one of Belgium's other delicious pale ales, this wouldn't make the list. It's alright, but it's lacking in aroma and flavour. 9% ABV and $5 something for a 33cl bottle in Manitoba.