50cl bottle. A clear dark golden beer with a small off-white head. Aroma of old hops, toasted malt. Taste of dry grainy malt, cereals, mild bitterness, nothing special.

New Belgian beer with apparently German connections - not sure how, perhaps the wife of the brewer, Serge Bijnens, is German - hence the reference to the Reinheitsgebot on the back label, very unusual for a Belgian. From a 75 cl bottle with cork. Brewed at Binchoise, the name of which coincidentally seems to be the French equivalent of the surname Bijnens... Bottle under high pressure during removing the cork, but no gushing. Thick, bit irregular but very dense and creamy, egg-white, stable head, remaining as good as closed for a long time, over an initially clear, deep ’old gold’ coloured beer with darker orange tinge, but not reaching the amber qualification on the EBC scale, lots of fierce sparkling throughout, sustaining the head; turns a tad darker orangey peach blonde and misty with sediment, and eventually, with the very last drops, a dark murky mess. Aroma of dry kitchen cloth, cold potato mash, apple peel, soap, chewing gum, dried apricot, white pepper, powder sugar, wet dog especially in the end (i.e. with sediment and warming up), dry breakfast cereals, plaster and papier-mach�, vaguer hints of dried orange zest, black radish, coriander seed, sparkling mineral water, cold camomile tea, gypsum, raw rhubarb, soggy toast, popcorn, shampoo, earth (especially in the end with the sediment thrown in). Crisp onset, low in fruitiness but with still some discernible banana ester sweetishness, hint of apple peel, sourish edges reinforced by a sharp, outspokenly minerally carbonation; mouthfeel nevertheless remains smooth and lean, but very soapy as well. Cereally middle, grainy edges like a pale lager, only very lightly bready - a thin bread crust accent let’s say, a bit marred by a metallic ’zing’ that resonates for quite a while. Fruitiness, if any, has been long gone by that stage, apart from basic malt fruitiness. Finishes with lingering carbon dioxide spritziness and sourishness, under which the thin layer of cereally pale maltiness progresses downwards; a grassy and floral hop accent appears as well, adding some late noble bitterness, but it’s the bland pale malt ’cerealness’ that persists, along with this soapy aspect (something I tend to dislike in any kind of beer). Not entirely sure how to approach this: supposedly (i.e. according to the back label) a Belgian amber beer with, according to their website, "no tradition" - but it is not truly amber coloured (rather ’dark blond’) and it feels very, very traditional, though admittedly I cannot immediately pinpoint the tradition as such. I guess their website and concept proves right: this feels halfway between an ordinary Belgian blonde and a German lager of the M�rzen or Dortmunder type. Maybe top fermented and then extensively lagered at very low temperatures to achieve a lager-ish effect, like K�lsch or Alt? Considering the geographical and zythological affinities the Limburg province has with German traditions, I would not be surprised if this were the idea. A hybrid kind of beer in terms of style, hence the "no tradition" I assume, a hybrid of very old traditions in that case - and only in that sense innovative. Regarded without these complicated style issues: very much overcarbonated, bland and too soapy for me, this is clearly not my beer. I’d rather have another Belgian blonde or tripel than this - provided they are technically correctly made, which I have to admit is the case here as well (it even lacks some of the off-flavours found in many of Binchoise’s own beers, ironically). Weird and hard to rate but in any case I cannot believe this is actually bottom fermented - maybe best viewed as a new addition to the old ’grey zone’ in between Belgium and Germany that is traditional Limburg, from a beery point of view at least. See the traditional, long-standing beers by Alfa and Budels in Dutch Limburg, or Cornelissen (why did they change the name anyway?) in Belgian Limburg. If that was the intention, this very much has a local tradition!

F: big, egg-white, not long lasting. C: amber, hazy, opaque. A: malt, floral, hint of caramel, grassy, fresh herbs, toast. T: malt, toast, caramel, floral, grassy, light yeasty, medium body, medium carbonation, for me refreshing and quite tasty, 33cl bottle from De Keyzer Drinks in Brussels.