Albert Stoemp

Beer developed in 2024 in collaboration with Albert "Stoemp" Verdeyen, a well-known Brussels chef (with heavy Brussels accent from what I recall from television), dubbed 'export' for some obscure reason - I will get back to this. Shared by tderoeck, cheers Tim! Snow white, opening, medium thick, edge-retaining head on a clear yellow golden robe. Aroma of old bread, halfripe banana, raw potato, straw, dust, white pepper, a hint of sweat and something radish-like, but also a faint background note of DMS (overcooked kale). Clean onset, halfripe banana again, hints of pear and green apple, sharpishly carbonated; cereally pale malt white-breadiness with a slick, bit soapy wheat effect at its edges, also bringing a dim, underlying sourish accent. Some retronasal DMS, fortunately not dominant, along with floral hops, though the aromatic charms of the used varieties (Simcoe and Azacca, no less) sadly do not come to full development. Some bready yeastiness lingers along with this gently drying, bit peppery hop bitterness. Too bad for the expressive varieties of hops being used in a non-expressive way, too bad for that touch of DMS as well, but otherwise solidly made. As for that 'export' qualification: in a (now largely forgotten) Belgian context this typically means a standard pale lager in a 33 cl bottle, whereas in a German context the term is associated with Dortmunder, which is not the same as standard pale lager (but often very close to it, admittedly - and in practice very hard to distinguish from Helles). This beer is neither: it is probably not even a lager to begin with and neither 'pils' nor 'dort' contain wheat... I guess the word 'export' has been freely used here for nothing more than nostalgic reasons, but I maintain that it is confusing and better removed from the label. Granted, a term like 'export' can have other meanings as well (think of 'export stout', for instance), but even then I see no specific meaning of it which can be connected to this beer...

10/I/26 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 30/VI/27, B24/134/181 (2026-27)

Clear yellow gold beer, small creamy off-white head, unstable, falls down quickly, a bit adhesive. Aroma: a little fruity, spicy touch, some coriander, sweet impression, a bit yeasty. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bitter start, some banana peel, a bit grassy, medicinal touch, banana. Aftertaste: unpleasant bitterness, grassy touch, some citrus, a bit sourish, not a real export/Dortmünder if you ask me. Too much of a Belgian (yeast) profile.

Donkergeel bier met mooie schuimkraag. Smaak is stevig bitter hoppig met iets van gras, wat citrus en bloemen. Uitstekend bier.