Stumbled on this new rendition of Hopus Primeur in a pub in Ghent. Very thick and frothy, inches high, foamy, egg-white head leaving nice cobweb lacing around the edge, sitting on top of a lightly hazy straw blonde beer with greenish tinge and fierce sparkling sustaining the pillowy head. Aroma of soap, grass, straw, banana and even light bubblegum, hard pear, dried field flowers, white celery, white bread and a vague whiff of DMS but nothing too offensive; old-fashioned noble hops elegantly crown an otherwise typical Belgian tripel nose. Crisp, fruity onset, very sharply carbonated and strongly numbing, adding a sourish touch to an otherwise moderately sweetish flavor of banana ester, pear and some pineapple; soapy mouthfeel, full grainy and lightly ’white’ bready malt sweetish middle. Ends malty but well-soaked in a grassy, very floral and mildly spicy ’noble’ hop bitterness, a bit quinine-like in the end and adequately bittering with that celery hint lingering alongside some vaguely warming, but otherwise well-hidden alcohol. Thoroughly Belgian even if ’hop forward’, not fundamentally different from previous editions with that same soapy quality and banana ester, but seemingly a tad hoppier and more floral, so in that sense a slight improvement compared with last year’s Primeur as far as I’m concerned.

Bottle. Pours strawyelow, rather unclear. big white head, rather unstable though. Smell is subtile hops, more to the spiced hoppy side. Somewhat fruity by the yeast, and mild honey aroma from the malts. Taste is creamy, mild bitterness, bit grassy/spicy by the hops, that remain very, very gentle ( and creamy ) mild metallic notes (that do not bother just yet) . Mild maltyness. Bit yeasty, as is to be expected form a Belgian beer, and thus some (very mild) fruity esthers. To high, yet very fine carbonation. Decent MF. The creamyness is very nice in this beer, and makes the beer still quite enjoyable, even though it’s strongly overcarbonated to me. I would have liked some more hoparoma, perhaps a stronger aromatic hop, or more/longer dryhopping. still Decent though !

Imported from my RateBeer account as Lefebvre Hopus Primeur 2017 (by Brasserie Lefebvre):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.8/5

5/V/17 - 33cl swing-top bottles from Geers (Oostakker) @ Abeels visiting (home) - BB: 24/V/18 (2017-575) Thanks to all for sharing the beers!

Clear pale yellow beer, huger very fizzy white soapy head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving some lacing in the glass. Aroma: some citrus, bit grassy, qutie fruity, peaches, hint of banana. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: quite some citrus, pretty bitter, hoppy, grassy, grapefruit, some lychee. Aftertaste: bitter, citrus, grapefruit, little sweet, some yeast touch, banana peel, bit malty, grains, grassy touch, very dry and bitter finish. One of the best Hopus Primeurs so far, I'd say?

Kroegentocht Dansaert @BierKultuur

Flesje gedeeld tijdens proeverijtje. Goudgeel licht troebel bier met stevig schuim. Aroma is hoppig. Smaak is kruidig en zoetig. Weinig nasmaak.

Bottle @ home shared by TomHendriksen. Clear yellow color, small to average sized white to off-white head. Smell and taste malts, decently hoppy, decently bitter, hayish. Not bad at all.

Fles gedeeld door Benzai, geprobeerd met Benzai en Inoven. Het is een goudgeel bier met een volle schuimkraag. Het heeft een lekkere hop smaak.

Draft at Brody’s, The Hague. Hazy golden with a white head. Aroma of garden weeds, dandelion, floral hops notes, grass and yeast. Flavour is light moderate sweet and moderate bitter. Medium bodied with light carbonation.

Tap at Brody’s. Almost clear light golden with bright white head. Sweet malts, light grassy, quite flowery, sugar, alcohol, cereal, some citrus. Medium sweet and bitter. Over medium bodied with some alcohol.

Bouteille 33cl, une vraie innovation par rapport aux autres années. Loin de moi, vil coquin quand j’eusse osé demander à Lefebvre quel houblon ils utilisaient dans la version 2013, et la réponse fut un bref, c’est un secret. Là, on a une avancée - on sait que c’est un houblon alsacien - chouette, on a tjs pas le nom, mais tout laisse penser soit à du Aramis, Mistral ou Triskel - ces filous de Lefebvre. De couleur dorée, on y trouve un léger voile trouble, le col est épais et fort tenace. Arôme offre, parmi ce caractère très belge au niveau malts et levure, des effluves restant dans une lignée noble - léger fruité petit rétro épicé. Palais est malté, pâle, pils, levure belge pas mal de sucre résiduel ajoutant au niveau d’alcool - fruité avec une petite touche agrumes et une fin légèrement épicée tout en conservant des aspects nobles. Semble bien se raffiner par rapport aux autres années. J’attends vraiment une vraie petite IPA légère à 5%.