Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

The owners of In 't Nieuw Museum, a restaurant in Bruges, took the old tradition of blending brews to create a new, 'conglomerate' beer, as in e.g. blending geuze from different batches (and brands) of lambic, to a new, postmodern level, in full 'craft beer movement' spirit: instead of limiting themselves to lambics like many others do nowadays, they created a business model in which existing beers of whichever kind are bought in and blended to whole new flavour combinations, each time in limited editions of a few hundred bottles. This particular one - I am having bottle number 136 - is one of their more recent blends (I missed out on the first because I simply had not noticed yet that this project exists) and is said to consist of Blonde Kuif (a blonde from Ostend's Koelschip - hence the nickname 'Zeesaison' for this blend), Fort Lapin Wit (a witbier from Bruges), the famous XX Bitter from De Ranke and a sour base beer they call 'Zure Pater'. That last one in particular bothers me a bit: though they admit that they do not brew themselves, it remains undisclosed where this Zure Pater then comes from; my best guess is that it is a home made blend of lambics they bought from one of the Senne valley lambic brewers, but why not disclose this on your label as well, if you are happy to admit that you did not brew it yourself? Trade secret, I suppose, but still... Anyway, comes from a 37.5 cl bottle with cork and muselet, opening easily without gushing. Egg-white, quite thick and stable, thickly paper-lacing, moussy, dense head on a hazy apricot blonde beer with ochre tinge. Fruity aroma with obvious lambic characteristics, impressions of wild apple, gooseberry, unripe peach, dry hay, sourdough, white bread crumbs, green banana, wood sorrel, dusty old attic, old books, dried field flowers, clear 'Bretty' horseblanket and stale sweat, dry cider, moist white pepper. Tart onset in a fruity, crisp way, lively carbonation accentuating the sourness which nevertheless remains quite gentle; lots of green apple, green banana, some cucumber, gooseberry, hint of lemon - feeling very lambic-like but indeed with a softening Belgian ale component to it; supple bready maltiness with a wheaty edge (ever so slightly soapy - and in itself also accentuating the sourness again), medium full, sweetish but restrainedly so and dried by this ongoing lactic sourness. Spicy and floral notes appear in the finish, a pinch of coriander seed, and - when the sourness meets the hop bitterness, no doubt mostly coming from the XX Bitter part - something vaguely grapefruity, evolving into a long, herbally bitter finish, where that crisp, 'greenish' sourness still plays along as well. Dusty and sweaty Brettanomyces aspects are meanwhile unmistakable. "Brett eats everything" as they say, and indeed this concoction feels like a Belgian blonde mixed with lambic, in which the lambic yeasts have quickly taken over and now predominate, with all their lactic and fruity acids and funky Brett effects - in fact it is hard to pull out any of the other beers' features, apart from that earthy XX Bitter hop bitterness and the coriander from the witbier. I had my doubts about the usefulness and quality of this project before I opened the bottle, but I must admit that the end result is quite satisfying, with layers of complexity and a lovely 'Belgian earthiness' to it. Very likeable, in spite of, or perhaps thanks to, tasting like a lambic more than anything else - but certainly motivating to find out more about this altogether interesting Bierstekers project.

Hazy light golden with white head. Sour grains, lemony fruity, bit weird herbal/algae, some skunky smell. Medium sour, splash of salt. Medium body and soft carb.

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6

Bottle shared. Quite hazy light golden with fluffy white head. Skunky, metallic, dead yeast, grapefruit peel, dry hops, indeed quite 'ziltig' with some seawater, coriander, wheat. Under medium sweet and bitter, lighter sour. Solid medium bodied. It really tastes like a blend of a bitter hoppy beer and a sour, but with some rough and nasty edges. Not great, especially the nose.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle from 't Klaverblad Beerse. Color: Lightly hazy golden, white head. Aroma: Complex mix of seet, tart and bitter. Yeasty and salty hints. Taste: Again a quite complex mix of moderate sweet, tart and bitter. Salty hints and a bit yeasty. Fruity grapefruit notes. Somewhere in between Saison, witbier and Geuze. Medium body, just below average carbonation. Long lasting finish. Nice mix of beers from Bierstekers. My first beer from this brewery / blender, looking forward to try their other beers in my cellar.

Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 4.5 | Flavor - 2.5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5

Bottled. out of the 3 i bought , this is the only one thats not a gusher. Clear skunky aroma rises up even before pouring the beer. being in green bottles, the mistake might have happened in the retail chain of this, but given the fact they blend beers (often already bottled) it might have even been skunky beer to start with. The beer pours slightly hazed blonde, big white head, rather big bubbles. Scent shows even more skunk now, lactic tartness. clear fruity brett bouquet as well. Taste is sharp, strong tartness. The beer isn't alright though. Polyphenolic, plastic, skunk, ... Very sharp, overcarbonated. something went seriously warm in the fermentation, presumably way to warm. Is it the re-fermentation ( the blend) or the beer(s) itself ? that'll forever be a mistery. But at this price point, the quality you get here is just pittyfull. both others I had by them, prior to this, were gushers but at least nice to drink...