Kombine
St. Bernardus Brouwerij in Watou, West Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Collab with: Bayerische Staatsbrauerei WeihenstephanLager - Helles Special
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Score
7.07
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Kombine 2025 is an unfiltered, full-bodied blond beer (6% ABV) with a subtle hoppy aroma. A first for St.Bernardus as we have never before brewed a bottom-fermented beer. Additionally, this beer does not undergo bottle fermentation, another first in our brewing tradition. And if that was not challenging enough, we also committed to brewing this according to the German Reinheitsgebot*! We used Weihenstephan’s yeast and a blend of hops from both our own and Weihenstephan.
Connoisseurs will recognize the ‘oxymoron’ or the apparent contradiction in the beer’s style and name. An unfiltered Helles is, by definition, a contradiction. We find this tension incredibly intriguing, as it mirrors the duality of our brewery: our beers are iconic and steeped in tradition and authenticity, yet we also enjoy pushing boundaries to appeal to the adventurous beer drinker.
Connoisseurs will recognize the ‘oxymoron’ or the apparent contradiction in the beer’s style and name. An unfiltered Helles is, by definition, a contradiction. We find this tension incredibly intriguing, as it mirrors the duality of our brewery: our beers are iconic and steeped in tradition and authenticity, yet we also enjoy pushing boundaries to appeal to the adventurous beer drinker.
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7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
33cl bottle from Alko.
Poured almost clear and golden in color.
Crisp, malty, grains, touch of spiciness from the yeast. Dry finish.
Poured almost clear and golden in color.
Crisp, malty, grains, touch of spiciness from the yeast. Dry finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Jul 2025
at 12:40
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
Apart from bottle, thanks for sample to omhper! Yellowish golden colour, small white head. Aroma is honeyish malts, some grains and a bit herbal and earthy tones. Flavour is sweet malts, some herbal, grassy and grainy rones. A bit dry in the palate.
Tried
from Bottle
from Alko (Webshop)
on 14 Jul 2025
at 22:48
7/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
Pour is a cloudy gold with a large white head. Aroma is wet dough malt with a little herbal hop. Flavor is more wet dough malt and spicy noble hop with a sulfur on the back end. Maybe a bit more heavy in body and ABV then the typical Hellas but this was pretty tasty.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Jul 2025
at 18:52
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
From Belgian Style Ales shop 07-2026
Pours a hazy orange gold, a finger of foam, good retention, excellent lacing.
Smell is malty, bready, honey, light citrus and grass.
Taste is bread, some grain, sweet honey, citrus and grassy hops there mostly in the finish.
Good mouthfeel, I would drink this again.
Pours a hazy orange gold, a finger of foam, good retention, excellent lacing.
Smell is malty, bready, honey, light citrus and grass.
Taste is bread, some grain, sweet honey, citrus and grassy hops there mostly in the finish.
Good mouthfeel, I would drink this again.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Jul 2025
at 13:39
7/10
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Jul 2025
at 14:23
7.3/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 8
Bonito color dorado turbio con bonita espuma de buena consistencia y duración. Aroma a grano con presencia de fenoles especiados y alguna leve nota cítrica. En boca carbonatación perfecta que la hace refrescante y realza sus sabores perfectamente equilibrados, con base de pan y agradable contraste citrico y especiado de la fermentación. Amargor moderado. Gran cerveza de dos míticas cerveceras.
Tried
from Bottle
from
OKasional Beer
on 10 Jul 2025
at 20:21
6.1/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
A bit hazy golden colour, small white head. Aroma has honey/buttery notes. Light-bodied. Honeyish, pale malty, grainy notes, a bit spicey flavour. Much more like Belgian pale ale than Helles and rated as such.
Tried
from Bottle
from Alko (Webshop)
on 10 Jul 2025
at 16:50
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6.5
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
Tap at Wapen van Leiden, Leiden: Cloudy gold coloured brew with an sweet bitter taste with gentle hints of citrus, some honey, herbs and marzepan. You get the crispiness of Weihenstephaner en the typical St. Bernardus yeast.
Tried
from Draft
on 06 Jul 2025
at 11:44
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 7
Overall 7
Fast gone white head over fully hazy (!) golden beer. Very grassy, peachjuice, herb , dry green leaves. Sweet-aromatic with a faint herbal finish. Again grassy flavour, yeasty; retronasal honey. Feels rather well bodied for 'only' 6%; very carbonated and slick. Nice, absolutely! But I'm all over the joint when it comes to this crazy name. A Helles can NEVER have a haze, Punkt. And then there's this 6% ABV... you need an almost complete level of fermentation to reach this with a lower °Pt. And if it's reached with a higher maltbill, then it's a Märzen, not a Helles!
Tried
from Bottle
at
Beerlovers Bar
on 06 Jul 2025
at 08:06
7/10
Tried
from Bottle
on 04 Jul 2025
at 23:09