Bavik Ezel Blond

The latest addition to this Ezel range, commissioned by this Orde van de Ezel in 2015, after they already had Bavik brew a ’tarwedubbel’ and a regular brown dubbel for them. Bottle from the Prik & Tik in Zele. Medium thick, egg-white, irregular head leaving behind a disparate pattern of cobweb-like lacing, cristal clear golden blonde robe with warmer ’old gold’ tinge and visible fizz, remaining exactly the same with the entire bottle poured out - in other words, very clearly filtered and pasteurized. Utterly lager-like aroma of damp kitchen towels, soggy breakfast cereals, green apple peel, dishwater, unsmoked cigarette tobacco, straw, cream, dough, camomile, grass, soaking wet cardboard, withering lettuce, white bread, some overcooked white cabbage - in other words, very apparent pasteurization. ’Empty’ taste of basic apple-ish sweetness at first, vague hint of unripe apricot perhaps, spritzy carbo with minerally side effects, smooth but light body especially considering this is above 6% ABV. Slick semolina- and cereal-like pale malt sweetness in the middle with a fruity (pear-) edge, carbonation persisting in effectuating minerally side notes, leading to an equally malt sweet, slick finish adding a dash of grassy hops with some mellow bitterness, but it is that semolina-like malt slickness and sweetness which remains, with even some ’unfinished’ white candi sugar-like effects, though not cloying. I can imagine this proud Orde van de Ezel in Kuurne (near Kortrijk if I’m not mistaken) wanted a blonde one to go with their white and brown ’donkeys’, but this is ridiculous: in a country where there are already too many top-fermented blondes as it is, Bavik (sorry, "De Brabandere") apparently had no more inspiration than to impose this strong pale lager onto them - because that is what this is: a needlessly ’strongish’, clean, fruitless, extremely boring blonde lager not far removed from the (original!) Adler by Haacht and other bland ’Dortmunder’-style pale lagers that were made in the past in this all too conservative country. I can take a Belgian blonde ale if it is well done technically and ideally creatively hopped, but this is not even close to that: this is a cheap, completely unnecessary ’strong’ lager - almost a stronger, sweeter version of Bavik Premium Pils, briefly said. The white original was decent - in another time, that is; the dubbel is excruciatingly boring but still very much okay; but this one is totally redundant and obsolete.

Pours very clear blonde , good white head. Smell is malty, not too sweet though. bit bitter, from both yeast and hops, but only very very mildly so. Taste is bit bitter, very crisp, malty, aromatic light malts + a very nice yeastyness ( thats very new to me ) very crisp, refreshing. Sounds like what every blonde-beer commercial promises, but never really provides. I like it, really !