(Bottle, 0.33 l - BBE 11/05/13, at Cafe Thembi, 20130605) The beer poured golden and hazy. Its head was quite large and white. Aroma had fruitiness, tangerine and honey. Palate was medium bodied with medium carbonation. Flavours were fruitiness, citricness, hops, sweetness, honey and bitterness. Aftertaste was hoppy and bitter. A nice hoppy tripel. I didn’t notice the garlic at all.

33CL bottle at home, interesting beer flavour was special overall a decent beer.

Bottle. Orange/pink colour with an off-white head. Aroma is malt, berries, blackberries. Flavour is orange, berries, blackberries, malt. A little bit thin.

Bottle. Amber colour with a beige head. Aroma is alcohol, malt, hop, sugar, fruit. Flavour is dry, alcohol, malt, hop, caramel, sugar, fruit, licorice. Full body. Nice beer.

Bouteille au 3ième festival Brassicole de Tournai. Cuivrée foncée, col beige. Arôme est épicé ce qui donne un bouquet fort agréable rappelant le pain d’épice, note de malt caramel et sucre brun dominent le tout. Palais garde aussi cet aspect pain d’épices - pumpernickel, malté caramel, côté sucre candi et cardamone, pointe de cara malt et léger chocolaté-cacao. Amertume vient jute en retrait, subtile. Earlier Rating: 2/5/2012 Total Score: 3.6Bottle sample @ 5de Brugs Bier festival. Cuivrée/beige, col ocre épais. Arôme fruité noire; date et figue malt caramel avec une note de basse-cour de ferme, léger houblon. En bouche, fruits noirs, alcool réchauffant avec un fini allant sur le lactique, qui me rappelle un yaourt à la fraise, note malté caramel avec sur la fin une pointe torréfiée. Fini herbacé, sec voire noisette en poudre, léger chocolat avec un tout petit ajout de houblon pour l’amertume. Un peu loin du style français de Bière de Garde que j’imaginais plus proche de la Saison Wallonne. Ici, un profile nettement plus belge dans la lignée plus proche d’une double/triple d’abbaye et son palais épais de levure et blé/orge peut dévier sur un style allemand.Earlier Rating: 12/18/2011 Total Score: 3.115cl bottle sample @ Kerstbierfestival ’11, Essen. Cuivrée, col léger beige. Arôme fruité noirs, nez malté avec un léger caramel. Bière douce voire beurre rance avec un malt caramel, le tout sur un profile herbacé/fourrage assez faible.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Jessenhofke Maya (by Jessenhofke):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 5/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.9/5

19/III/13 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent) @ home - BB: 5/X/13 (2013-256)

Clear blond to light orange beer, big irregular white head, very stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: sweet and sugary, very fruity, peaches, sweet malts, hint of citrus. MF: lots of carbon, medium body. Taste: fruity start, quite some citrus, bitter hops, grassy, still very fruity overall. Aftertaste: bitter, grassy hops, some citrus, fruity again, honey like sweetness, bit medicinal bitterness in the end, pretty decent. Very surprised with the low ratings here...

Bottle, somewhat over date (bb 15 Sept. 2012). Brown color. Beige head, sticky, with some dark spots in it. Aroma’s: sweet malts, sugar, sweet & sour fruit, raisins, sweet spices, with red fruit/berries retronasal. Flavor is sweet, a bit alcoholic. Body is actually rather thin (for a 10%er). Not much happening in the finish. Nothing to do with a Bière de Garde. Not very exciting.

33cl bottle from Alsem’s. Thick white head. Clear golden pour. An ok beer.

Hazy golden coloured body with a bright copper coloured glow, a thin one centimetre tall off-white head and a zillion super small bubbles really slowly rising to the top. Aroma of yeast, more yeast and bread, a bit of curacao, some caster sugar, a hint of alcohol and some fruits. Medium-bodied; Assertive effervescence, a lot of oranges and curacao, some raisin sweetness, a good alcohol bite and a noticeable alcohol burn at the end. Aftertaste shows some complexity, but largely focused on the wheat, yeast, alcohol and citrus notes. Overall, a decent trip, but nothing compared to some other belgies and of course, some more accessible beers here stateside. Still nice to try of course, but if I knew about this prior to buying the beer, I would have packed something else in my suitcase. I sampled this 33 cL stubby bottle purchased from Beer Mania in Bruxelles, Belgium on 30-June-2012 for €2,99 sampled at home in Washington on the other side of the pond on 07-March-2013, with a date on the bottle of 13-January-2013.