7.1

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

Blonde made for a pub named Hoptimist in Bree in the north of the Belgian Limburg province, apparently by a young nanobrewery not getting much exposure outside of their own region as yet - in fact I had never heard of them until I stumbled upon this beer, dedicated to the son of the pub owner and falsely promising a 'wild' ale with Brettanomyces... Some very light gushing but nothing dramatic. Thick and frothy, snow white, pillowy, lightly lacing, uneven-bubbled yet densely structured head atop a misty yellow blonde beer with ochre-ish tinge and visible sparkling. Aroma of banana peel, oxidized apple slices, raw potato, coriander seed, iron (very 'pure' and clear - and indeed unambiguously confirmed by the 'hand test' so head stabilizer effectively used here), straw, tulip bulbs, cooked turnip, freshly cut grass, dust, dried parsley. Fruity onset, estery but relatively restrained in sweetness, some banana peel, oxidized apple and green pear, very vague peach perhaps, minerally carbonation effects, soft and rounded mouthfeel; cereally, white-bready, simple 'pale' malt sweetish middle with dim sourish undertone, sprinkled with some coriander seed but also 'ironized' at the edges, though this metallic effect proves a bit less strong than expected based on orthonasal observation. Some mild background phenols and floral hop bitter notes work quite well in the finish, the latter with gently drying effect, but all the way at the back, a glow of 'graanjenever'-like alcohol is noticeable, which should not be the case at this ABV. Doubting between ordinary blonde and tripel, this is about as cliché as it gets for a twentieth-century style Belgian ale and even if the iron is unnecessary and the alcohol very badly hidden, the overall impression remains relatively inoffensive - as well as forgettable. Works for a hastily drunk café beer in a remote corner of Flanders, I guess.