7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle pour at the The Belgian Brewers' Bash in Washington DC. Poured more of a dark cola color than a pitch black color. Medium-sized light tan head. Aroma was some chocolate, roasted coffee, chocolate malts. Flavor was chocolate, roast. Very refreshing.

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle pour at the The Belgian Brewers' Bash in Washington DC. Poured an almost completely clear yellow color with a small white head. Aroma was sweet candy, with very little funk. Flavor was slight funk, but perhaps a bit too much sweetness - needed a bit more funky, dry character to really knock it out of the park. This was fine.

5.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

5/V/23 - 33cl can from BioPlanet (St. Amandsberg), shared @ home, BB: 29/III/25, brewed: 23-05 (2023-406)

Clear gold beer, big creamy white head, unstable, falls down quickly, non adhesive. Aroma: very malty, grains, cow fodder, barn yard, every so slightly fruity touch, biscuit malts. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: very malty start, a bit sweet, pretty bitter, a grassy touch, grains, hay, some citrus in the back. Aftertaste: pretty hoppy, grassy, a bit metallic, very malty finish. No citrus nor prickly pear to be found. Lame.

7.3

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

New summer beer in the Kerel brand from Tielrode near Sint-Niklaas, a blonde ale with malted wheat and aromas of prickly pear and citrus; most of it is apparently canned, but my sample (from a Delhaize supermarket) is bottled in those typical stubby 'pharmacy' bottles used for most of their other beers. Quite thick, frothy, snow white, membrane-lacing, bit irregular but stable head over a clear, pale but pure golden blonde robe with lively visible sparkling. Aroma thankfully less artificial than feared, with impressions of dried out white bread, dry crackers, unripe orange and orange peel, raw turnip, field flowers, green pear but no prickly pear for as far as I can detect, hints of wet clay, unripe banana, some background DMS (overcooked kale), straw. Crisp, dryish onset, some green banana and green pear returning, restrained in sweetness; lively carb with a continuous minerally undertone (quite strong - as in carbonated water), slender and smooth mouthfeel filled with nice bready wheat malt and a note of bread crust-like malts, bit cereally but in a good way, remaining dry with indeed a dried citrus peel-like effect in the end, not unlike a witbier. Prickly pear (aroma) remains undetectable, instead the hops come to the foreground, matching well with that dried citrus peel element and providing a spicy, floral bitter note, along with some lingering malt breadiness; given the very low IBU, I assume the water quality supports and accentuates the hops, because I do not think the citrus aroma offers much replacing bitterness. Only in the very end, after the hops and malts have faded and after swallowing, appear a 'rosy-sweet' touch, quite refreshing actually, and doubtlessly representing the prickly pear aroma. I was expecting an overly sweet, artificially aromatized concoction, but this is ultimately better than expected: this is, more than anything else, a solid Belgian blonde of the drier and hoppier kind, with the wheat adding more breadiness than soapiness or sourness. The added aromas have been applied very sparsely, even the citrus is not very outspoken, while the prickly pear remains utterly elusive; so what you get in the end, is yet another Belgian 'terrasjesblondje' - albeit, as said, a well-made one. Point off for promising something exotic while offering something rather 'common', but have a compensating point for being confidently dry instead of overly sweet as is more often the case in this kind of summer beers.

7

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Fles 33cl thuis. Fruitig, yeasty, orange peel, wat banaan, aardetonen, steenfruit, redelijk zacht, zoeten, abrikoos, peer, wat bloemig, citrus, hoptonen. (3-3-2023).

6

Magus, suhkrune, tsitrus, šampoon, linnased, alksi on tunda, aga selle abv kohta ei midagi hullu. Ok.