Bottle picked up from BBP Dansaert, Brussels. Had this Friday 27th February 2026 around Isobel's, Spond, Herefordshire whilst thinking about making a Chicken Tikka Masala. Pours yellow with a mid sized white head. Nice gentle and soft carbonation, not sure why this is a Winter Blond, I would have expected a little winter spice, there doesn't appear to be any, but tbf there is a little regular spice Belgian edge. Light sweetness, a little bit fruity, not necessarily picking up any apple though. Decent beer. Score 7.1

Strong winter ale by BBP, apparently containing apples - so I guess it could technically be called a fruit beer as well. Came from a gift box bought at a Delhaize supermarket. Egg-white, moussey and frothy, dense, membrane-lacing, stable, quite thick head on a hazy apricot blonde robe with pale orangey tinge. Aroma of apple peel and indeed a whiff of apple but nowhere dominant (though a sweet ripe apple effect does become more pronounced warming up), unripe pear, young mugwort, green banana, orange zest, gravel, petrichor, ferrous spring water, peach, biscuit dough, grass, dry earth, white pepper, sweat, old Camembert cheese, hint of pineapple, spring blossoms. Sweetish onset, fruity notes of cooked apple, pear and light banana but the apple dominating far less than expected based on the recipe (luckily, perhaps), with more a wry-ish apple skin feel to it than actual apple 'flesh'; lively carb with pronounced minerally effects, smoothish and quite full body. Brioche- and soggy cereal-like malts, under ongoing sweetish fruitiness - but nowhere do residual sugars become too sweet or cloying; floral hops in the finish bring mild bitterness and soft flowery and grassy retronasal aromas, while this yellow-green fruitiness persists. The hops do become a bit white-peppery when extending into the tail, warmed gently by wodka-ish alcohol which also lifts up the fruity elements, which in the end remain on the sweet side. This winter beer does not feel very 'wintery' at all and in any case it deviates quite strongly from that typical Belgian Christmas beer standard set by Gordon X-Mas, celebrating its 100th birthday this season; if anything, it reminds me a bit of Verhaeghe's Noël-Christmas-Weihnacht, which, many a moon ago, was among the very rare Belgian winter beers with a blonde hue and tripel-like profile (albeit sweeter and spicier, much more so than this Yeti Bang). A bit odd, but not unpleasant.

15cl sample @ BBP Bailli.
Dorée, léger pâle et voile, col blanc crémeux.
Arôme ets frais fruité, je note bien la pomme, délicat bouquet belge esters, malté avec une petite note houblonné presque américaine dont un léger effet de résine et de kaki.
Palais est plaisant avec une belle base belge tout en ayant ce volet hybride mettant en avant le caractère de la pomme voire de cidre - sans trop être dans le sucré de cette dernière, elle ne présente pas non plus trop du caractère âcre que je peux parfois retrouver dans la pomme. Effet fruité chair de kiwi et kaki, aiguille de pin, résine délicate. Je trouve cette bière bien fichue.

33cl bottle from Colruyt Schaarbeek in Brussels.
F: medium, white, average retention.
C: gold, hazy, opaque.
A: malty, orange, grapefruits, apples, papaya.
T: full malty base, orange, apples, mango, papaya, nice balanced long lasting bitterness, medium carbonation, good one, enjoyed.

29/I/24 - 33cl bottle from Colruyt (Lochristi), shared @ home, BB: 19/III/25 13:18 (2024-67)

Little cloudy pale blond to light yellow beer, big solid creamy irregular white head, unstable, falls down quickly, a bit adhesive. Aroma: nice, very fruity, some citrus notes, a bit cheesy, hoppy. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice, lovely bitterness, some citrus, malty, hoppy, resinous, very fruity, a bit dank. Aftertaste: good bitterness, resinous, fruity, tropical fruits, a bit piny, dank hops, lovely stuff!

Kerstbier Festival. Hazy golden yellow beer with a white head. Aroma of fresh grassy hops, pale malt, hay, lemon. Taste of fresh grassy bitter hops, hay, lemon, moderate to long bitter finish.

Small, relatively stable, lightly yellowish head over fully hazy orangey yellow beer, with just a little lace. Dry to sweet-ish nose, aromatic bathroom products, potpourri, fruity esters, hoppy hint. Quite dry in the mouth, vermouth, bitter apples, crabapples; hops very present, rootspices, leaves. Just a hint of the perfumey stuff from the nose. Medium bodied, quite carbonated, bit fruitslick mainly. Dry aftertaste. Definitely OK. I understand the apples might be the not-consumption variety, but I confess having been wondering what kind of drinks might be made from eaten apples... Txs to Stef!