33cl Bottle at het Pandje, Zaandam. Brown colour, beige head. Aroma of sweet nutty malt, caramel, toffee. Flavour is sweet, toffee, light nutty, malty sweet finish. Light bodied. Beer without hops, made by a hop farm... Boring stuff.

33cl bottle from Pastures Discount Foods. Medium creamy white head Very hazy amber pour. Light bitterness

Another of these Beers for Nature, the profits of which are for De Wielewaal, a locally well-known nature association. Apparently brewed with four different grain species: obviously barley, spelt, buckwheat (not technically a true grain, I know) and the ancient einkorn, which I never saw in a beer before; also contains meadowsweet and yarrow, indigenous herbs that have been used in beer for ages as well. Bottle at the cafeteria of the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen, the largest nature reserve in the city of Ghent. Snow white, medium thick, papery lacing, irregularly edged, mousy head on a hazy 'old gold' beer with straw coloured edges and very fierce, cava-like sparkling everywhere, rushing through the glass and supporting the head. Aroma of soggy white bread, dry crackers, field flowers in a subtly distinctive way (the yarrow and meadowsweet, in other words, not separable from one another, though), straw, green banana, old dried thyme (the spiciness of the specialty grains, no doubt), dried apricot, cloves, green apple peel. Fruity onset, halfripe banana and pear with a dash of apricot but relatively subdued in sweetness, lively carbonation with very minerally effect yet not in an obnoxiously harsh and stinging way; soft, fluffy malt breadiness with clear grainy edges from the spelt and einkorn, as well as that typical, dull, 'off-green' buckwheat spiciness, supported by a phenolic spicy note and a floral, vaguely grassy hop bitterishness, the florality of which is obviously accentuated and further coloured by the yarrow and the meadowsweet, both of which seem to add a powdery, 'real' floweriness, in a subtle way. A very thin and faint metallic accent lingers somewhere but - to me - not disturbingly so. Soft, floral, supple, well-carbed and thoroughly Belgian, very accessible to a typical Belgian (non-geeky) palate, but indeed the specialty grains and subtly applied herbs add something slightly different here, which I can appreciate.

33cl bottle from Tourisme Furnes in Veurne, Belgium. F: big, white (pink touch), long lasting. C: gold, hazy. A: malty, fruity, bit red berries, honey, bit spicy, floral. T: malty, vaguely fruity, bit spicy, honey, raspberries are quite hidden here yet ok not very artificial sweet fruity so ok for me, medium body and carbonation, almost enjoyed.

Bottle at Firkin Alehouse Folkestone. Hazy amber colour. Good big hoppy beer. Some sweetness. Some resin pine light bitterness. some toffee. pretty good.

16/05/2019 @home - 33cl bottle from a trade with tderoeck. Clear blonde, medium fading white head. Nose is malts, bit fruit. Taste is sweet malts, banana, caramel, some fruits, spicy yeast, bitter ending. Nice mouthfeel.

Imported from my RateBeer account as De Plukker Kasteel Beauvoorde (by De Plukker):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 14/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5

21/IV/19 - 33cl bottle from L'Héritage (Poperinge), shared @ Paasbrunch (Arno & Meggy's), BB: I/2020 - (2019-581) Thanks to Kristel & Hendrik for getting me this beer! Made with the organic berries from my friend, Wim!
Could've been first, damn backlog! :p And to say I've had this beer in my fridge for months already...
Little cloudy orange beer, small creamy off-white head, pretty stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: raspberries up front, bit spicy, some yeast, dusty, coriander. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: bit sourish, raspberries indeed, pretty dry, little bitter, some spices. Aftertaste: spicy and dry, soft acidity, quite some raspberries again, bitter touch. Overall a pretty nice fruit beer!

Last year's edition of this yearly series of wet-hopped Plukker beers, 75 cl bottle with cork and muselet (as usual) from De Hopduvel in Ghent. Thick and frothy, off-white, disparately lacing, irregular and eventually strongly thinning but nevertheless stable head on a misty, beautifully pure amber beer with deep orange hue, like a sunset, thin but fierce columns of sparkling rising up from the bottom of the glass (and sustaining the head). Aroma of raw carrot juice, old mandarin peel, soggy peanuts, tomato peel, field flowers, chewing gum, damp earth, pond water, vague banana accent, moist paprika powder, soggy rusk, dust, hints of plum and turnip. Fruity onset, estery but not too sweet, sourish note, lively carbed with a supple, smooth, streamlined mouthfeel; accents of peach, red apple and very light banana, carried along a trail of slick bready and lightly caramelly, bit soggy-peanutty malts, sweetish without being sweet and toasty without being bitter. Before the finishing stage, the intended 'wet' or green hoppiness shows up, with indeed a recognizable damp hop cones effect, providing a rooty, floral and earthy bitterness that matches well with the earthiness of the yeast that becomes more prominent in the end; bubblegummy, almost plaster-like effect as well, but that damp earth-like, leafy bitterness remains dominant, bombarded with clove- and almost vaguely mint-like phenols. An orange peel note shows up as well but in a dry, 'old' and 'wet' way. Soft, earthy, very Belgian ale as usual from De Plukker - on the one hand, one can argue again that their beers ought to be way less yeasty so as to better showcase the (home grown!) hops, but on the other hand, this kind of ales constitute Plukker's house style and I am perfectly fine with that. This is not an IPA, not intended as one, and should therefore not be judged as one either: this is a Belgian amber putting more emphasis on the hops simply because the brewer also happens to be a hop farmer. That feels kind of right, for me at least, so as with previous editions in this series, I feel very comfortable with an IPA-influenced hoppy Belgian amber ale like this, as it breathes a considerable degree of 'terroir' (as the culinary world would put it). Still - and this is purely from memory - I recall earlier versions as having a bit more 'punch' in the hop department, and therefore a bit more surprising, than this one, even taking into account the fact that the bottle I'm sampling here, one of only 4930 in existence, must be past its prime by now.