Mateke Blond
De Graal in Brakel, East Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style Regular|
Score
6.61
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Kraddel (15844) reviewed Mateke Blond from De Graal 10 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9
Bottle. Pours rather clear blonde, ok white head. Smell is bit yeasty, with a bitter-hopped back. Taste is bitter(hopped) . Mild yeast back, notes of grains. Very basic blonde beer, 13-in-a-dozen belgian style. Yet no brewing flaws, agreeable carbonation, and easy drinkable. More bitter than what the average drinker would want, but not bitter ( or hoppy ) enough for what the fans of bitter beers might want. I don’t see this being a rememorable beer to anyone, yet there is nothing wrong with it.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Mateke Blond from De Graal 10 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Brewed by De Graal for hobby brewery De Kubieke Meter (the cubic meter), which, according to their Facebook page, is litterally the son of that other hobby brewery called De Vierkante Meter (the square meter); this particular beer is allegedly made to a recipe originating from the municipality of Schoten near Antwerp. Bottle from Wijnegemse Drankenhal. Medium thick, lightly lacing, quite loose, somewhat irregular, off-white head with good retention, sitting on top of an initially clear, deep golden blonde beer with calm but active sparkling. Aroma of freshly cut nettles, gooseberries, green apple peel and raw rhubarb acetaldehyde, grass, some pineapple, white bread dough, hint of bubblegum, old cookies, bread crust, field flowers, a sourish lemon juice accent possibly announcing the onset of an infection, a whiff of ’jenever’-like alcohol which should not be apparent in a beer of this strength and then, some even less attractive, sulphuric hints of stale sweat and burning rubber (DMTS), but fortunately not overpowering. Some estery fruitiness in the onset, a play of kiwi, unripe peaches and yellow plums with a subtle but unmistakable sourish lemon peel edge, even a tiny bit salty for a moment, a bit minerally, with medium strong, tingling carbonation; the rest of the palate is dryish, a bit thin and grainy, with a certain amount of ’breadiness’ below, ending somewhat earthy-yeasty and even more bready with a pleasurable, peppery, leafy hop bitterness further drying the mouth and lingering in the back of the mouth for quite some time, but this drying ending proves to be partially due to alcohol as well, which is again much more ’visible’ than expected from a 6% ABV beer. A faint bubblegum sweetness pierces through the peppery hops and dito alcohol in the very end. Quenching because of its dry character, with a sufficient amount of hops for balance, but in all just another Belgian blonde for the masses. Too bad for the sulphuric characteristics in the nose and too obviously alcoholic, if this can be ’refreshened’ a bit, it would already become a whole lot better.