6.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5

One of the recent additions to this range, a seemingly hop-forward blonde (hopped with - very - classic Saaz); bottle from Bierhandel De Picker in Zele. Gusher, but with very slow and careful opening, I managed to reduce the loss to a bare minimum. Very thick, frothy, obviously hops-enhanced, thickly plaster-like lacing, eggshell-white, foamy and stable head on an immediately cloudy peach blonde beer with 'dirty' orangey tinge. Aroma of cooked apple, banana, overripe peach, orange peel, wet sweetbread dough, iron shavings, powder sugar, straw bales, sweet tulips or other cut flowers, warm rainwater, toach of soap, hint of carrot soup going bad. Sweetish, mildly estery onset, peach, apple and banana, medium carb (on the soft side for a Belgian blonde ale, even, the gas must have largely escaped with the gushing), rounded, very soft, even somewhat creamy mouthfeel, with a light metallic edge (though a bit less so than feared based on the relatively prominent iron presence in the nose); bready, sweetish maltiness, touch caramelly, soapy, with phenolic spicy notes at the back, ongoing estery fruitiness, some lingering residual sweetness and a softly spicy, floral, earthy hoppiness, feeling 'wet' and accentuating the soapiness, yet providing only very mild bitterness - apart from this soft background pepper 'zing' all the way at the back. Soapiness, yeast fruitiness and malt sweetness linger more than hop bitterness. Considering the very name of this beer ('houblon'!), I was expecting at least a kind of Belgian IPA, in the sense of Belgian ale with more hops than traditional because it is fancy to throw in a lot of hops these days. But what I got, was this sweetish, rather simplistic and not entirely flawless cliché Belgian blonde... Could have worked for me with a much more generous Saaz dosage, though admittedly the Saaz does its work and adds a buttercup-, camomile-, grass- and soap-like quality to the nose and to the finish. In all: drinkable, but quite forgettable as well.

7

Imported from untappd on 02-05-2020

5.5

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

2 February 2019. At Brugs Bierfestival. Cheers to tderoeck, 77ships, Jerre, Kevin & Anke! Clear golden with a lasting, small, foamy, off-white head; some lacing. Aroma of grass, jenever, old white bread, apple peel, mouldy apricot, stale lime. Taste is light to medium grainy bitter, a bit grassy & yeasty on an 'old' bready-malty base; fruity notes of apple & apricot & faint sourish lime. Dry, grassy hoppy finish, yeasty & grainy, rather short, a bit stale. Medium body, slick-oily texture, soft carbonation. I guess they'll never learn.

6

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

Imported from my RateBeer account as De Poes Houblon - Saaz (by Brouwerij De Poes):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 12/20, MyTotalScore: 3/5

2/II/19 - sample @ Brugs Bierfestival, BB: n/a - (2019-180) Thanks to the Belgian ratebeer crew for sharing todays' beers!
Clear blond to orange beer, creamy white head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: malty, grains, hay, cow fodder, bit spicy. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: malty, grains, hay, veal, weird bitterness. Aftertaste: more malts, hay, grains, cow fodder, bad, soft bitterness, bit metallic.

6.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck. Hazy orange, amber colour, white foam, disappears quickly. Bit estery, light citrus, yeasty. Taste is light sweet, light bitter hoppy.