Gluten Free

New(ish) Bertinchamps, a gluten free blonde containing oats; typical stubby Bertinchamps bottle from the Delhaize supermarket in Lokeren. Towering, egg-white, intricately cobweb-lacing, bath-foamy, pillowy head very slowly diminishing over a clear yellow blonde robe with vague olive-greenish tinge and some fine and disparate visible sparkling. Aroma of soggy white bread, lots of hay, moist white pepper, drying flowers (as in a mixed bouquet with roses), cold chervil soup (or even instant chervil soup powder), kiwiberry, matcha tea powder, pan-fried green beans, hints of banana peel, polyester door mat, cacti or other houseplants. Crisp onset, sweetish but restrainedly so with notes of green banana and green pear, fizzily carbonated with minerally effects throughout, supple mouthfeel, smooth pale grainy 'artisanal white bread' maltiness made smoother by the added oats; this light breadiness lingers as the hops enter, in a dry hay- to even slightly green tea-like, but only softly bittering way, creating just enough dryness in the finish - luckily it does not need to balance out a lot of sweetness (though still some). Something soupy lingers retronasally. For gluten intolerant people (like those suffering from celiac disease) I guess this beer can be a liberation - especially now that Brunehaut, specialising in this specific field, was recently taken over and seemingly faces an uncertain future; I do not, however, belong to that group and for me this is basically just another unnecessary, bland and boring Belgian blonde. There is a certain annoying, whiny sourishness to it I cannot quite put my finger on, though it may have something to do with the process of extracting the gluten? I am still not Bertinchamps' greatest fan after this, in any case.

Medium, stable white head over (cold)hazed, very carbonated yellow beer. Bit soapy nose, rosewater, almondy, soft-sweet aromas. Watered-down rosewater, amandine, candied flowers, perfumey. Quite slick (despite the absence of gluten), well-carbonated, watery. Sweet and boring. More gluten, more flavour?