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

Another one in the wave of commissioned (and rarely inspired) brews facilitated by the concept of BeerSelect here in Ghent, this time for an Antwerp fraternity (Magistra). Towering high, foamy, egg-white, very pillowy and ultimately even cauliflower-shaped, plaster-like lacing head (filling your entire glass if you do not pour carefully), sitting on top of an initially lightly hazed, warm apricot blonde beer with pale orangey tinge and fierce sparkling rushing throughout, turning misty and deeper peachy with sediment. Aroma initially muffled by two inches of head, but then slowly revealing impressions of unripe peach, banana peel, coriander seed, white bread pulp, clear iron (confirmed by the hand test - and probably explaining the explosive and rocky head formation too), drying grass, old abbey cheese, dry clay, dust, vague accents of pineapple, green pear and cooked chicken. Spritzy onset, fruity but somewhat restrained in sweetness, hinting at halfripe banana, pear and unripe peach, lively carbonated with minerally effects, supple and bit 'fluffy' body; a thin layer of honeyish residual sugar lingers over a slick cereally maltiness, with that iron effect clearly noticeable at the sides and an increasing apple-like aspect towards the end, where dusty coriander seed and a floral hop bitterness take over. Some bready yeastiness remains in the end, running parallel with the hops, providing a late but eventually leafy and confident, yet ever friendly bitterness. An ordinary Belgian style blonde ale once again - of which there are thousands around in this country already. I can understand its purpose, this is clearly to be preferred over the cheap industrial lagers most students tend to drink - but what's with the iron? An attempt to solve an initial lack of head retention, perhaps?