@Brouwers in het bos 2022

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

33cl bottle. A minimal hazy deep golden beer with a big off-white head. Aroma of herbal pale malt, yeast. Taste of spicy and herbal pale malt, phenols, yeast. Moderate carbonation.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Saison from a newish client brewer in Wetteren (southeast of Ghent), steinie bottle from Geers. Very foamy (inches thick), snow white, plastery lacing, stable head on a misty apricot blonde beer with lots of visible sparkling. Aroma initially dominated by the carbon dioxide but after this fades, impressions of dried orange peel, bread crust, unflavoured potato chips, coriander seed, ripe apricot, thyme, white pepper, fresh wormwood leaf, radish peel. Sharply numbing carbonation initially, distracting from the flavour; opens up with sweetish fruitiness of red apple, pear and banana, soft fluffy maltiness, bready with cereally edge, lots of 'dusty' coriander seed spiciness, some dried orange peel, phenolic clove-like notes and - refreshingly - a long, drying, quinine- and wormwood-like, very leafy hop bitterness with quenching effect. I guess every dry, highly carbonated and hop bitter Belgian blonde qualifies as 'saison' these days - at least in the traditional sense of the word - so why not this one. A more 'refined' carbonation would be an improvement, though.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Bottle @ Neerhof. Hazy amber colour, white foam. Sweet nose of apricot, peach, hay and flowers. Rather sweet taste with peppery hints, medium bitter and rather watery body.