Kasteel Xtra

33cl bottle from Jumbo supermarket in Stein, Nethelands. F: medium, white, average to good retention. C: gold, clear. A: malty, citrus, bit caramel, herbal, bready, bit spicy. T: medium malty base, light citrus, bready, grassy, spicy, almost dry on the palate, soft carbonation, nice balanced bitterness, quite refreshing, enjoyed.

Appearance: Cloudy yellow with a nice white head. Aroma: Belgian yeast, malt, bread. Taste: Relatively dry, malty and bready, Phenolic Belgian yeast. Grassy hop. Light bitterness. Mouth feel: Light to medium body. Average to lively carbonation. Overall: A decent session Belgian ale.

33 cl. bottle @ home, bought @ van Rooij, Culemborg.
Clear golden with a thin white head. Grainy citrus aroma. Light bittersweet taste with a medium bitter finish. Reminiscent of a pilsner with some more esters and flowery hops. Nice patersbier.

Fles 33cl thuis. Bittertonen, kruidig, fruitig, citrus, bloemig, yeasty, hoptonen. Beetje dun. (6-11-2021).

0.33 l bottle from 'Mr. Hop', best before February 2023. Clear, golden with a medium large, frothy, almost stable, white head. Slightly sweetish, gently fruity-grassy, moderately floral aroma of lemon peel, pineapple, fresh grass and traces of vanilla. Hardly sweet, fairly dry, quite fruity-grassy, moderately bitter taste of fresh grass, lemon peel, pineapple, light nettles and a touch of grains, followed by a short, gently bitter, fairly dry, minimally yeasty finish. Thin to medium body, quite effervescent mouthfeel, average carbonation. Surprisingly fresh and hoppy Ale, fairly refreshing, alright!

New low(ish) alcohol beer in Van Honsebrouck's Kasteel range - which in itself needs no further introduction. This brewery has always been keen to respond to current market trends - the sweetened Saint-Louis lambics originated when sweetened geuze and kriek were on the rise, Bacchus when oud bruin gained popularity, and so on - so this one comes as no surprise, seen the upsurge of sessionable beers (below 5% ABV) and low- and non-alcoholic beers of the past few years; compare with e.g. Sint-Bernardus Extra 4 or Gouden Carolus UL.T.R.A., beers by which this Kasteel Xtra was no doubt inspired. Thick and frothy, snow white, intricately 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, stable head on a crystal clear, pure 'metallic' yellow blonde beer with strong visible sparkling - the looks of a standard pale lager, but turning very lightly misty with sediment. Aroma of old white bread, unripe banana, coriander seed, plaster, clove-like 4-vinyl-guaiacol, straw bale, dried garden weeds, wallpaper glue and even wet white paper, green pear. Restrainedly fruity onset, low in sweetness, some unripe banana and green pear aspects but low in esters too, fairly neutral actually; minerally carbonation, tingling on the tip of the tongue, slender and bit glueish mouthfeel. Simple pale maltiness in the middle, remaining very low in sweetness, with a grainy edge most reminiscent of an industrial pale lager, but feeling 'fuller', creamier and more white-bready; gains a grassy and floral hop bitterness in the end, alongside some background clove-like phenolic activity and a pinch of soapy coriander. This hop bitterness dries the finish quite adequately, with a dry-spicy-grassy effect that lasts longer than I was expecting. In fact, with the other beers under this popular brand in mind, I was expecting this to be much sweeter (and not in a good way) so in that sense, I cannot deny that I am positively surprised - but I hasten to add that it remains a fairly bland, predictable, pale lager-like blonde that seems intended to compete with actual (standardized) pale lager. Low profile beer again - when is Van Honsebrouck finally going to come up with something truly daring and inventive, instead of running after these temporary market trends all the time?

Bottle at home, golden beer, small head. Aroma is yeast, fruit, citrus, fruit. Taste is the same, yeast, lemon, citrus, hops, bitter. ok