*Old rating, best before 10/2008. Mild-weiches, leicht getreidiges Blonde mit einem interessanten Wachholder-Schnaps-Aroma. Nicht zu alkoholisch, aber der Wachholder ist deutlich, aber ausgewogen zu schmecken. Interessante Kombination. --- Beer merged from original tick of Rader Blonde on 08 Feb 2015 at 23:41 - Score: 6. Original review text: Mild-weiches, leicht getreidiges Blonde mit einem interessanten Wachholder-Schnaps-Aroma. Nicht zu alkoholisch, aber der Wachholder ist deutlich, aber ausgewogen zu schmecken. Interessante Kombination.

The blond version of the two Rader beers which are apparently flavoured with Radermacher jenever. Yellowish golden blond colour, medium white head, quite strong carbo, unusual aroma and taste of apple, straw, citrus peel, spices and clear jenever, less subtle than the Ambrée and more astringent.

Standard Belgian blond beer. The juniper is present, not a bit too subtle. Hmpf.

Aug 2010: Dumpy brown 33cl bottle, picked up in Antwerp at some random beer shop I stumbled across while walking the wife. I poured the beer into my ’Forbidden Fruit’ chalice (only because the beer is supposed to be flavoured with a Juniper Berry distillate!). I poured the whole bottle in, I wasn’t going to, intending to leave the sediment within the bottle, but I missed the ’cut off point’ and hey presto, out came the grist. The beer would have been a clear but dull orange, old gold colour. It still was, but without the clear body, because of the floating particles i’d allowed out the bottle. The head was a deep blanket of white foam which stayed throughout the tasting. Juniper beeries aren’t supposed to smell of Wiltshire Ham are they? Well this beer did (smell of cold cut, cured Ham), unless my nose lost the plot completely. The swurling sediment slowly began to settle and I took my first sip. Forget the hammy smells, this is a sour berry beer, lemon and limes too! Really interesting Blonde this one, you’d never guess the flavours from the smell, well I was fooled anyway. Real Gin and Tonic style feel to it. What a pity the wife is in London at a West End Show tonight, she’d have raved about this beer. Different and well made, I’ll suprise my good lady next week (in Brugge) if I see this on any beer menu. Edit bit: I did find it in Brugge and the wife did rave about it!