30cl bottle shared with Erzengel. A clear pale golden beer with a white head. Aroma of sweet and strong pale malt, belgian yeast and spices. Taste of strong pale malt, honey, spices, belgian yeast.

Helder lichtgeel bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is zoet met iets van vanille, banaan en honing. Dit is voor mij geen winterbier, valt erg tegen

Resurrection of an old winter beer from the Arcense Bierbrouwerij (now simply called Hertog Jan), with a new - blue - label other than the one depicted here. Bottle from the Albert Heijn supermarket in Hulst, Zeeland. Intricately paper-lacing, beaten egg-white, medium thick, mousy head showing gaps here and there, cristal clear orangey-tinged metallic 'old gold' robe, no visible sparkling. Aroma of strong cooked cloth (very obvious pasteurization), banana-flavoured bubblegum, honey, iron shavings, cloves (4-vinyl guaiacol!), cheap bourbon, coriander seed, red apple, industrial cider, cream corn, white sugar, grass, some methylated spirits. Sweet onset in a cleanish way, strong bubblegummy banana ester though with a touch of ripe apple, light sourish undertone accentuated by still lively carbonation, minerally accents accompanying a somewhat resinous, lean body built by slick cereals 'pumped up' by residual white candi sugariness with honeyish, bit syrupy effect as well as very clearly resounding metallicness to it, altogether remaining very simple and straightforward. Finishes with 4-vinyl-guaiacol phenolicness, clove-like in an artificial manner and with a medicinal side to it somehow, but primarily with ongoing, sickly honeyish and cereally sweetness, lingering banana ester, a dramatic lack of hops and - not surprisingly - an astringent, obnoxious, moonshine- and (too much praise) calvados-like alcoholic wryness along with plastic-like notes. Worse than expected: I remember Hertog Jan Grand Prestige being an enjoyable quadrupel close to twenty years ago - but even then, already property of that dreadful Interbrew, the current AB InBev - yet this has all the features of a strong pale lager the European way, and that is technically probably what it is, too. Sweet, overly boozy, artificial, metallic, sugary and bland, I regret never having had the original version for comparison but with this one in front of me, I cannot say I have a feeling of having missed out of something. This is dreary, fully industrial, disgusting, rubbery AB InBev rubbish, but I guess I should have known better than to buy a bottle of these. Not far removed from Grimbergen Tripel the way I remember it, or worse even. Avoid, even the average Belgian cliché Christmas beer, even including the archetypical Gordon XMas, is more benign to the palate than this shamelessly crude Frankenstein monster of a beer. If this came in 50 cc cans at half the price, I'm sure you'd see hordes of homeless people - with all due respect - carrying them around like they do with Gordon Finest Gold in Belgium, which is about the same level of quality. Shame on AB InBev once again, this horrible company hasn't even tried to grant their clientele with a decent beer here. Appalling!