From tap. Pours hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma is mild fruity, toasted malty. Bitter, grassy and toasted malty. Light herbal. Dry and bitter, grassy finish.

Off-white body with a white rocky head. Lightly hippy aroma. Intensely bitter flavour from hops. Extremely good pilsner.

Bottle shared with Dutchdrebus @ Drebus’ birthday tasting. Hazy yellow color, medium sized white head that lasts for a decent while. Aroma is malts, a bit metallic, bit moldy. Taste is better: nice malt base, bitter hops, malt bitter and overall a firm bitterness. Perhaps too bitter for some. Ok beer.

Bottle @ benzai. Clear golden colour with a firm, medium sized white head. Smells malts, grains, slightly farty - but that might be benzai. Tastes grains, bitter, quite soapy/shampoo, slightly herbal (thyme, lavender). Medium body, perfect carbo.

Huge, dense, yellowish head ove (cold)hazed golden beer. Nice, fresh (pale) malty nose, fresh garden herbs, grass. Bitter flavour, hops & yeast, with straw, and lightly toasted in the finish. Aftertaste (long) is bitter-hoppy again, acquiring a peppery streak, tannine-like. Light to medium body, lightly slick, well-carbonated. Hurray! Once, Willy Contreras made the best artisanal Pilsner (and Export) in Flanders. Now, the in-law is doing it again!

One of the two versions of this 13 Artisanale Pils developped by the Ministry of Belgian Beer and brewed at Contreras. Deep, warm ’old gold’ colour, equally misty with steady fizz piercing through, sustaining a moussy, lacing, off-white and fairly stable head. Aroma indeed reminiscent of an unfiltered German lager (I’m thinking Kellerbier) but clear presence of Belgian yeast as well, leaving impressions of sourdough, unripe plum, apple peel, white bread, minerals, white pepper, floral hops, cheese crackers, raw celery, garden weeds and a faint hint of rainwater, but undisturbing. Crisp onset, fizzy carbo but softer than in most macro pale lagers (more truly Pilsener-like, actually), bit minerally, sourish hints (vague lemon peel accent, sourdough), with a soft, restrainedly bready malt sweetness after that; earthy, leafy, peppery ’noble hops’ come forward at an early stage, already showing up shortly after the onset and gaining strength as the liquid passes through the mouth, with a surprisingly strong, deep, earthy and notably cheesy but also floral and spicy hop bitterness in the end, drying the mouth with an effect that can be described as both appetizing and thirst quenching. Unfiltered and refermented lagers are rare enough as it is, and practically non-existent in Belgium, a few exceptions aside, so this is a welcome distraction from all the top-fermented Belgian ales. Atypical in more than one way, but I am pleasantly surprised, this certainly belongs to the ’best’ Belgian lagers I had, or certainly the most outspoken ones. Recommended, also because hop-forward beers have gained considerable popularity in Belgium in the past years, and this is the first bottom-fermented beer in this trend; I will try to use it as a means to get people off the obiquitous macro lagers!

250 ml. bottle @ home. Purchased @ Willems & Zoon. Paired with spicy Asian food. BBF 13/01/2017. Light hazy golden, little white head. Nose is apple, light sweetness coupled with bitter grass & white pepper, faintly floral, hay. Taste is apple, light sweetness with okay grass, light floral & white pepper bitterness, bitterness is mild but satisfactory for sure. Light yeastiness. There is a light vegetable not so it isn’t perfect but rather nice still esp. for Belgium. One should check this one out.

Bottle from the Hopduvel. Hazy golden colour, white foam. Crispy and hoppy pilsener. Light sweet with very bitter aftertaste. Easy drinkable. Good.

Bottle at Craig’s. Pours clear gold with a thin white head. Aromas of cooked corn, vegetal. Taste is light sweet. Astringent finish.