Ever since the ’Proef’brouwerij in Lochristi has been filled to the brim with Danish commissions, Boelens (not that far away from Lochristi) has jumped to the opportunity and profiled themselves as the new brewery-on-command, resulting in an indistinct mass of commissioned beers for all over Flanders. This one is for one or other cultural committee in Sombeke, a village near Waasmunster, in itself situated between Sint-Niklaas and Lokeren in the Waasland region. Bottle from Wijnegemse Drankenhal at close to one year of age, shared with Jan. Strong gusher - I could not prevent losing 1/4 of the bottle even with the most careful opening ’tactic’. Cobweb-lacing, off-white, moussy and stable head over an orange-tinged peach blonde beer, initially clear with a suspension of dead yeast ’spots’ throughout, clouded with sediment and even containing some dark protein flakes in the end. Aroma of old wrinkled apples, old - if not mouldy - bread, a very old dusty herbarium, white pepper, banana and even bubblegum, peach peel, glue, raw carrot. Estery, fruity onset, hints of peach, banana and a slight touch of pineapple, some sourishness underneath but nothing expressively lactic or otherwise bacterial, rather thinnish mouthfeel, medium carbonated, supple. Cereally malt body with a light caramelly edge, straightforward, carrying the esters towards an earthy, yeasty finish with a grassy, floral hop bitter touch and some lingering, bit ’dirty’ yeast bitterness. Boring as any of the hundreds of other ’standard’ Belgian blondes, and even at about one year of age, this clearly hasn’t kept well. Not that many off-flavours, actually, but the gushing in itself was off-putting enough. This beer deserves to be put on the pillory after which it was named - I think Boelens is taking on too many of these commissional beers lately, their technical abilities have doubtlessly improved in the past ten years, but they still have a lot of things to learn. No longer accepting generic Belgian blondes as easy commissioned beers could be one of those things.

Bottle at barely legal tasting room . Pours unclear , dark blonde . Small , nearly no head . Smell is sweet, fruity yeast . Taste is sweet, sugar, honey , sticky . Some maltyness ( very hidden ) and yeasty ( fruity, sweet ) . Good carbo . Touch of ( rather chemical ) bitterness . Kinda blank taste, Borning and not balanced .

Gusher. Big offwhite head. Hazy amber body. Spicy toffee and honey aroma with herbal alcoholic notes. Sweet-dryish spicy honey and toffee taste with herbal notes. Mid-bodied. Mild, mealy mouthfeel. Dryish spicy honey and herbs aftertaste with mealy notes. Nice, drinkable, full of flavour. (0.33l bottle from the brewery.)

Imported from my RateBeer account as Sombeeks Bier Schandpaal (by Boelens):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 11/20, MyTotalScore: 3.2/5

8/XII/12 - 33cl bottle @ Culinair Bierfestival (Waasmunster) - BB: n/a (2012-1338) Thanks to Kris for sharing today's beers!

Clear light orange beer, white irregular head, pretty stable, adhesive. Aroma: very fruity, exotic fruits, passion fruit, sweet mango, syrup, citrus, fruity yeast esters. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: citrus fruits, ripe fruits, little sweet, very spicy (coriander), dry, some orange peel, sweet touch, honey. Aftertaste: bitter, coriander overload, bit fruity, soapy. Way too much coriander, alas.