New(ish) Bertinchamps, a gluten free blonde containing oats; typical stubby Bertinchamps bottle from the Delhaize supermarket in Lokeren. Towering, egg-white, intricately cobweb-lacing, bath-foamy, pillowy head very slowly diminishing over a clear yellow blonde robe with vague olive-greenish tinge and some fine and disparate visible sparkling. Aroma of soggy white bread, lots of hay, moist white pepper, drying flowers (as in a mixed bouquet with roses), cold chervil soup (or even instant chervil soup powder), kiwiberry, matcha tea powder, pan-fried green beans, hints of banana peel, polyester door mat, cacti or other houseplants. Crisp onset, sweetish but restrainedly so with notes of green banana and green pear, fizzily carbonated with minerally effects throughout, supple mouthfeel, smooth pale grainy 'artisanal white bread' maltiness made smoother by the added oats; this light breadiness lingers as the hops enter, in a dry hay- to even slightly green tea-like, but only softly bittering way, creating just enough dryness in the finish - luckily it does not need to balance out a lot of sweetness (though still some). Something soupy lingers retronasally. For gluten intolerant people (like those suffering from celiac disease) I guess this beer can be a liberation - especially now that Brunehaut, specialising in this specific field, was recently taken over and seemingly faces an uncertain future; I do not, however, belong to that group and for me this is basically just another unnecessary, bland and boring Belgian blonde. There is a certain annoying, whiny sourishness to it I cannot quite put my finger on, though it may have something to do with the process of extracting the gluten? I am still not Bertinchamps' greatest fan after this, in any case.

Bottled, from Carrefour, Hotton. Clear golden, small head. Fruity nose with mild esters. Sweet with medium body and rounded mouthfeel. Fruity with bread, marmalade and mild marzipan. Low bitterness.

Medium, just off-white head over faintly hazy copper-orange beer. Perfumey nose, and some stable odours; almonds in the finish. Again horsestable, farmyard & almonds, dry leaves. And sugar. Full bodied, good carbonation, oily-chewy. And yet another one that is oversweet.

Medium, stable white head over (cold)hazed, very carbonated yellow beer. Bit soapy nose, rosewater, almondy, soft-sweet aromas. Watered-down rosewater, amandine, candied flowers, perfumey. Quite slick (despite the absence of gluten), well-carbonated, watery. Sweet and boring. More gluten, more flavour?

Beer commissioned by Rêve Bivouac, a 'glamping' site in Wavre, which apparently already had their own wodka and gin produced for them as well; longneck bottle from the Carrefour supermarket in Sint-Denijs-Westrem. Thick and frothy, snow white, membrane-lacing, rocky head, very stable and seemingly enhanced by tetra iso-extract; initially clear, warm 'metallic' golden robe, lightly hazed in the end. Aroma of unsugared dry cookies, wholegrain bread, soggy chicken food (but in a good, 'cereally' way if you get my drift), a hint of nuttiness, chamomile tea or chamomile-flavoured cookies, minerals, hints of rusk and raw kale (not DMS). Cleanish onset but still subtly estery with a vague hint of pear, not at all Pilsener-like, carrying an even more atypical residual sweetishness, like a waferthin layer of acacia honey, over a smooth cereally, slightly bready and unsugared cookies-like malt core, slender, with a thin line of minerality underneath. None of the crispness associated with any kind of Pilsener - and no hop bitterness worth mentioning either, though the hops do reveal themselves as a flowery aroma, bringing back that chamomile aspect, even in a flattering, pleasing way. Not a "Pils" beer at all, as I said: this is another of those pseudo-Pilseners on the Belgian market today, coming from smaller craft breweries which are incapable of producing an actual Lager - so instead, and in view of the decline in 'real' craft beer consumption in this country in post-Covid times, they opt for a blonde ale slimmed down, cleaned and simplified to something resembling a pale lager. I have encountered quite a number of these in the past few years and some of them imitate actual pale lager more convincingly than others; this one does not do a very good job at that, I think, but I hasten to add that it is, almost in spite of its own intentions, nevertheless a pleasant, balanced, quite fine-tuned session beer. For that reason alone and nothing else, I will be mild in rating, but I just could not bring myself to classifying it as a Pilsener here - so in spite of brewer's intentions, I followed Untappd for once, where it is also classified as a blonde ale, justly in my opinion.

A small bottle from City Super supermarket in the basement of Sogo, on Zhongxiao Fuxing. Aroma: hops, fresh and inviting. Appearance: opaque honey amber, large, very off-putting floaters ceaselessly flocculating. One finger off-white foam. Palate: medium-bodied and oily on the tongue, rather fizzy carbonation; good thick mouthfeel at the finish. Taste: lightly sweet with a pronounced hit of sherbet. Pretty solid but appearance detracts from overall score.

Weird 0.5l bottle, thx Ogi for sharing with Hrabren and me! Very dark chestnut brown body, off-white thick head. Sweet, slightly stale sticky caramel and dates aroma, touch of roast. Smooth soft taste, bit creamy, slightly roasty, caramelly, vaguely vegetal, burnt honey (?!), vague herbal hoppy notes. This is a mess, it's not off, it's a mess.

0.5 l bottle shared with Ogi and Marko, thanks. Dark brown, large tan head. Aroma is roasty, cardboard, slightly smokey and rubbery. Smooth, medium body, bready, caramely, rubbery, too roasty and dull. No estery complexity, no balance. Finishes dry.