Has a fairly dark brown colour. Obvious clove in the aroma. Flavour has some caramel in the background. Quite herbal tasting with light sweet spice.

Huge cream-beige head over clear red-chestnut coloured beer; shards of lace. Bit creamy nose, leafy, seaweed, coloured & sweet malts. Bitterish-sweet, again leafy, bit earthy/nutty. Slightly sulphury too. Very faint ironoxide in the head. Underbuild are sweet malts, touch of chocolate malt. Medium bodied. Not much aftertaste, but some faint coffeeish bitterness. Certainly not bad, just not very exciting. Again emphasis too much on the malts, rather than the exotic hops.

Bottled 330ml. -from Casino supermarket, Alpe d’Huez. Dark golde (almost amber) coloured, medium sized off-white head, mild hoppy nose. Moderate malty, grassy hoppy, slightly spicy and touch of alcohol with notes of caramel and hops in the finish. Not bad at all.

Yet another variation on the Leffe Royale theme, this time a winter version allegedly hopped with Mount Hood, which is basically an American interpretation of Hallertau Mittelfrüh. From a 75 cl bottle bought at a Delhaize supermarket. Medium sized, strongly cobweb-lacing, pale greyish off-white, moussy head retaining fairly well; colour is a mahogany brownish bronze, entirely translucent and cristal clear. Aroma of brownies and old cookies, dry grains, some caramel, the expected ’dead cooked’ smell of pasteurization, stewed tomato, head-enhancing and artificial iron, industrial honey, dried flowers, faint hints of slurry pit, mouldy hazelnuts and melting rubber. Sweet onset, raisin, some pear and banana, with strong, minerally, slightly ’souring’ and clearly artificial carbonation, smooth but (seen the ABV) somewhat thinnish and definitely metallic body of caramelly malts, sweetish and maltose-like with a toasted bittering edge in the end, sustained by a surprisingly agreeable but still soft, leafy, herbal hop bitterness and a dash of warming, brandy-like alcohol. Alas, the artificial caramel and a tinge of iron are the final things remaining in my throat after swilling. The sweet maltose (and even corn) taste lingers along with the toasted bitterness and some residual earthy hop bitterness. I sincerely hate this ’brewery’ and the Leffe brand alike so I had a very negative attitude towards it when I opened it, but that being said, I must admit that this is not the worst of these Leffe Royales - in fact, it may well be the best to date. Sure, the pasteurisation and artificial carbonation are unmistakable and the hops, supposed to be stealing the show here, are subdued like in the three other current variations, but somehow this one disturbed me less than the three others and I hate to admit it - seen the grudge I’ve been holding against this brand for years - but the dry-hopping does come through, idly trying to save the industrial mess underneath. I don’t like it because of its industrial feel and heritage, but I dislike it less than most other Leffes. Acceptable, but still too sweet, way too pasteurized (if there has ever been a degree to that), too metallic and clearly too malt-forward for what it pretends to be - yet I must honestly admit that a few years ago, I would never have seen a dry-hopped Leffe coming, so I cannot but feel some sense of improvement here. However, I still wonder when these AB InBev marketeers are going to stop bombarding the consumer with special hop varieties on Leffe Royale - let’s collectively hope they will not go through each and every hop variety available to the market now just for the sake of marketing...

Imported from my RateBeer account as Leffe Royale Mount Hood (by Anheuser-Busch InBev Belgium (AB InBev)):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 13/20, MyTotalScore: 3.3/5

10/I/16 - 33cl bottle from Delhaize @ Arno and Meggy's place - BB: 29/IX/16 (2016-24)

Clear purple brown beer, creamy beige head, very stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: sweet, yeasty, some banana, sugary. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet and sugary, lots of banana, bit metallic, sugary. Aftertaste: little fruity, pretty bitter, caramel, malty, more ripe banana.

330 ml. bottle sampled @ home. BBF 29/09/2016. I love how AB-InBev actually puts shorter BBF dates on their “IPA” series while so many Belgian breweries still don’t get the concept & keep using the same BBF dates for hoppy beers as for their regular range. Purchased @ Delhaize. Another one of these, now a winter edition of all things. The text tries to paint the hop used as something winter-like, it is a bit odd and not very effective but that might be because I am far too much of a beer geek. Clear quite dark amber / burned sugar appearance, off-white head. Nose is very weird, intensely soapy, probably the closest I have had any beer ever smell like soap, burned sugar, herbal & soapy hops, strange. Taste is massive soap, sugar, cloying herbal sugar, fish guts, soap, cloying honey, plastic, dark fruit,… The hop here are like a parody, it comes across very strangely & you can find it only if you know what to look for, look hard enough & it still tastes very strangely. Oily, sugar, herbal honey body. Very odd beer, a real mishmash of tastes. Messy but enjoyable to some extent, it is not the worst take on an IPA. Partially salvageable. I think that people are rating this one a bit too harshly, these series has worse beers.

F: average off-white, not long lasting. C: dark ruby to brown, clear. A: citrusy hoppy, caramel sweet, hints of fruity and malty. T: 0,33l bottle from Delhaize, interesting sweetness, caramel, liquorice, very decent citrusy bitterness, medium body, good carbo, sweet aftertaste, for Leffe ok.