7.1

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

Blonde quencher made for a beer café in Walhain (southeast of Brussels and known for its medieval castle) by one of Brussels’ newest craft beer initiatives. Steinie bottle bought at BrewDog Brussels and shared with Craftmember on the train back to Ghent. Thick and frothy, snow white, moussy, stable head, misty straw blonde robe with greenish tinge. Aroma of green pear, dried lemon zest, coriander seed, bread crust, banana peel, touch chewing gum, unripe pineapple, vague exotic echoes of passionfruit and starfruit somewhere. Sweetish fruity onset with light sourish edge, banana, green pear and pineapple esters prevailing, lots of fizzy carbonation as usual in this style, supple white-bready malt core with grainy and somewhat soapy edges, spiced with a pinch of coriander seed in the end as well as something dried lime peel-like, even green onion notes from the hops, which also add a long, leafy, grassy bitterness; bready-yeasty aspects linger too. Well-crafted Belgian blonde ale, but still clearly intended for a larger audience and nothing to plan a trip to Walhain for - unlike its castle and surroundings.