5.4

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

A clear golden yellow beer with a white head. Aroma of sweet grainy malt, vanilla, straw. Taste of dry grainy malt, straw, vanilla, cereals, watery body.

2.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 1.5 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 2

Laffer, süßlich herber Beginn. Geringe Bitterkeit, wässriger Körper, kein Nachgeschmack. Nö. 10/4/8/3/6/4

4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 4

50cl Blik. Ander ABV, andere brouwer dus heb het maar als ander bier gelaten en niet als batch. Lichtgouden kleur, witte kraag. Licht moutige geur, waterig, licht metalig, niet per sé vies maar erg smaakloos en waterig. Gaat wel tegenstaan na een paar slokken. Lichte body, waterig, flauw.

2.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2.5 | Flavor - 2.5 | Texture - 3 | Overall - 2

Standard pale lager made for the Jumbo supermarket chain by Swinkels, good ole Bavaria in other words - and I would not be surprised if this is exactly the same as Bavaria Pilsener (adding that they have a lot of guts to call such a product "Pilsener" to begin with), because why would a macro brewery devoid of any form of artistic pride, inspiration and creativity, yet full of 'Dutch' avarice and efficiency, develop a recipe for a genre that does not even ask for separate recipes? Can from the Jumbo in Ghent, bought in the beginning of this month - so 'aged' for one month after purchasing... Medium sized, regular, even-bubbled, snow white, 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, interrupted but altogether fairly stable head on an obviously crystal clear pale yellow blonde robe with only a few bubbles rising up every now and then. Simplistic aroma of corn - and the water coming out of a can of corn, damp kitchen cloth, plaster, malt sugar and artificial sweetener, something distantly 'fart'-like (sorry) yet nothing truly 'beery'. Neutral to sweet but in any case very one-dimensional, simple 'onset' carrying very little flavour if any at all, lively carb as can be expected but unfortunately not sharp enough to destroy this slick, thin body of unpleasantly thin and superficial graininess, combined with a corn effect I can only compare with chicken food diluted by rainwater. A metallic 'zing' adds even more forlonness, and then the death blow is delivered by a weird, chemical bitterness in the end, possibly hoppy in nature but surely not tasting like actual hops. I am almost thankful that the ending is at least bittering here, but this bittering remains unpleasant, just like everything - nose to taste - that preceded it; it has been at least twenty years since I last had Bavaria's own 'Pilsener' but who knows, it could have been changed in those two decades... In any case this Jumbo version is even cheaper than Bavaria was back in those days - I get the idea of offering a standard pale lager as cheaply as possible in a supermarket chain like Jumbo, but even then they should have checked the quality level and not be simply 'content' with this abominable, chemically tasting concoction. Albert Heijn, Aldi, Lidl and several other supermarket chains have a 'house' pale lager more decent than this, so why should Jumbo settle with this below-average level of 'quality'? I hate to say it, but my expectations of this one were very low - and yet actually tasting it manages to even perform well below those expectations. I had better standard pale lagers from random African or Asian countries than this. Shame on you, Jumbo - but even more on you, Swinkels.

5

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 4

The tripel in the Dors brand, created specifically for the Jumbo supermarket chain and brewed by Bavaria; bottle from the Jumbo supermarket near the ‘Darsen’ (docks) in the outskirts of Ghent. Snow white, moussey, membrane-lacing, slowly dissipating head, misty warm orangey-golden robe. Aroma of banana peel, cooked parsnip, powder sugar, plastic, old potatoes, industrial honey, cheap gin, green garden weeds, burnt rubber in the background (DMTS?). Simplistic onset dominated by a one-sided white candi sugar sweetness, vague hints of pear and of course banana, but a straightforward white-sugary aspect keeps accompanying everything, through a moderately carbonated, slick cereally core, in itself largely ‘filled’ with white candi syrup and with slightly metallic edges. Even less pleasant than this and that annoying sweetness are the plastic-like effects in the finish, paired with a rather artificial, almost somewhat ‘medicinal’ bitterness and warming, gin-like alcohol. This is Bavaria (or Swinkels as they call themselves today) all over: a tripel created by a macro brewery mostly experienced in dreary pale lagers including the cheap strong ones aimed at alcoholics. The result was going to be predictable I guess, but honestly this is even worse than anticipated and well below the average quality level of even the most average thirteen-from-a-dozen Belgian tripel: clearly short-cut in production, empty, cheap, overly sweet and artificial. Quite frankly, even among the worst tripels I ever had, and I had a lot of them.

6

Lekkere frisse blond. Niet te zoet. Koolzuur. Primma

3.8

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4

Aroma of grains, some malt, hint of bittering hops. Flavour is light sweet with a light to moderate bitter finish. Easy, bland Pilsener. Not terrible.

5.5

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

Bottle from a local Jumbo. Aroma is banana, wheat, some spicy yeast. Hint of citrus. Sweetish flavour with low bitterness. Medium body. Bit bland, lacks depth.

5.6

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

Bottle from a local Jumbo. Aroma is malt, ripe-ish fruits, bit sugary with yeasty notes. Sugary fruits. Flavour is medium sweet with low bitterness. Medium body, slightly sticky. Average, bit sweet Blond.