Bottle 33 cl. Clearly called a Dubbel on my label. Pours a clear, deep brown with an orange hue and a dense and creamy, beige head. Sweet, spicy, coriandery nose paired with dried, dark fruits. Rich, sweet body. Complex estery with coriander and caramel, figgy. Sweet licorice. Warming finish with next to no bitterness. 240124

33cl bottle from Albert Heijn Knokke-Heist supermarket. F: big, white, good retention. C: gold, light hazy. A: malty, banana, honey, peach, apples, spicy. T: full malty base, banana, tangerine, bit grapes, herbal touch, lemonade touch, higher carbonation, nice balanced bitterness at least, ok not bad enjoyed but more lemonade than beer feeling here.

Bottle at home shared with Laura. Hazy yellow color, medium sized white head. Aroma and flavor are malts, herbal / spice, fruitpeel. Medium bitter with some sweet spice notes. Hmm alright but not really my kind of beer.

Flaska från SB. Mahognyfärgad klar vätska med högt skum. Doft av torkad frukt fikon, banan, russin, sirap. Söt och fruktig, stor kropp, marsipan, sirap, melass. Skulle nog vunnit på att stå ett par år men trevlig redan nu.

‘Bière brut’ (champagne beer, but the champagne makers of France will not allow anyone to say that) infused with herbs to create a ‘kirr royal’ effect of sorts; created for the tenth anniversary of the brewery. Shared with Jonathan. Snow white, moussy, quite stable, slowly opening head on a clear yellow blonde beer, misty further on with somewhat greenish tinge and lively visible sparkling. Aroma of perfumed soap (very strongly so) rather than real herbs, sweet rosé wine, lemon-scented hand soap to even body lotion, sweet industrial cider, lychee, champagne, ripe pear, white sugar, touch banana. Sweet, fruity onset in a sleek, cleanish way, hinting at guava, lychee and pineapple, fizzily carbonated like a sparkling wine; smooth body with velvety creaminess, wheat slickness and buckwheat spiciness all noticeable in descending order, remaining smooth, slender and a tad vinous. ‘White’ sugariness maintains a dominant sweet effect while this perfume of said herb infusion, strong from the start, grows even more intense, as if standing in a Rituals shop or something alike. A light grassy hop bitter moment appears but fades quickly, champagne-like alcohol shows up equally subtly but remains generally well hidden. The soapy perfume effect from whatever artificial addition they used, is by far the strongest flavour element here, a bit reminiscent of DeuS (one of the original ‘champagne beers’ by Bosteels) but even stronger – and though there is admittedly something ‘festive’ about this concoction, it is just way to perfumey – to an almost ‘unbeery’ degree – to please the lovers of genuinely artisanal beers. Feels ‘forced’, in a way. Not my cup of tea.

Strongish blonde honouring Radio Minerva, a local radio station in Antwerp established in 1982 but in spite of its old-fashioned image still popular in the larger Antwerp region. The term 'tripel' seems a bit overstated for a 7% ABV blonde, but who am I to set the limits... Towering high, bath-foamy, egg-white, paper-lacing, very pillowy, stable head on a hazy ochre-tinged apricot blonde beer. Aroma of apple peel, unripe peach, hard to halfripe pear, coriander seed, powder sugar, cooked turnip, banana but not overpowering, chamomile, overripe gooseberries or yellow plums somewhere, hints of honey, dessert wine, clove, chalk, oatmeal porridge and a whiff of iron hovering over it all - subtly so, but still easily ascertainable by the so-called 'hand test'. Sweet-fruity onset with pear upfront (Doyenné), followed by red apple and banana, with a souring effect from sharp to even numbing (over)carbonation even for this kind of beer; essentially smooth mouthfeel harshened by this carbonation, croissant- and almost waffle-like, due to a layer of honeyish sugariness resting on top. Coriander and clove spiciness accompanies a relatively 'full', honeyed sweetness to a mild grassy and floral finish, where hops play only a supporting role - alas. Honey-, ripe pear-, cooked apple- and white candi sugar-like sweetness thus remains the main flavour combination, even though the grassiness of the hops does persist. Sweeter than I was hoping for, in all, but I guess I should have known, considering the campy sweetness Radio Minerva sends out... Not my cup of tea - and again, not really a tripel at this strength - so let us hope their anniversary beer, which I also bought at Fontana (now Dullaert) today, will be better!

Historical recipe. Good!

Leuk idee naar is het allemaal net niet