Pours cristal clear yellowblonde. Ok white head. Smell is Sharp, bitter, malty. Taste is bitter , some hoparoma ( mild tropical fruits, bitter hops ) Sharp maltyness as well. Really belgian style. Bit metallic in the back. Decent mf, high carbo .

Bottle from Fontana in Sint-Niklaas. Thick and moussy, snow white, lacing head remaining closed most of the time and apparently hops-enhanced, over a pale yellow to straw blonde beer, lightly hazy with tiny yeast particles divided throughout. Aroma of lemon zest, kiwi, mandarin peel, unripe gooseberry, freshly cut sorrel, chamomille and violets, pineapple, vague banana, straw and something earthy (turnip) but subtly so. Adding the deposit results in a cloudy deep straw blonde colour as well as something vaguely sulphuric in the nose (my bet is on DMS). Crisp, refreshing onset, lots of gooseberry and pineapple with accents of banana and passion fruit, sweetish and sourish in good balance, spritzy carbonation (more so than in your average IPA, but not disturbing), smooth, lightly buttery mouthfeel, honeyish pale malts with white candi sugar sweetishness and some yeasty spiciness, leading to a mildly hoppy finish, quite aromatic with flowers, lemon peel and even a bit of orange retronasally (Cascade!), bittering but in a gentle, elegant way, drying the mouth a bit without becoming deeply bitter. A spicy, earthy hop bitterness does linger in the background, well in dialogue with the sweet malts. Juicy, technically decent, fragrant Belgian blonde with certain IPA-like traits thanks to the use of New World hops, but still a Belgian blonde in all its other components so at best a kind of hybrid. In any case more interesting than so many overly sweet, acetaldehyde-rich Belgian blonde ales hitting the market: the choice of aromatic hops grant this beer an elegant character with a certain amount of finesse. Could have been a lot hoppier of course and the Cascade could have been much more pronounced to my taste, but the intention seems to have been a Belgian blonde with an above average aroma of fragrant hops, and this goal they have accomplished very well. Enjoyed it.

New spice beer with Szechuan pepper, woodruff and ’citroenkruid’ which I suspect refers to lemon balm. Medium thick, off-white, moussy and retaining head over a hazy, peachy orange blonde beer with vivid sparkling. Weird aroma of indeed aromatic fresh lemon balm leaves, burning rubber (DMTS?), withering flowers, rusty iron (as in: metal!), pink pepper (the Szechuan, I assume), persimmon, orange peel, possibly woodruff but only in a dried, dusty kind of way, straw, something chlorine- or even ammonia-like piercing through all the time and dried apricot - in all, not a very attractive combo of the typical Belgian blonde aromas with the spices mixed in quite heavily as well as a few off-flavours. Taste is fortunately better: mild but estery fruitiness in the onset, hints of peach, unripe plum, faint banana and red apple, sharpish and minerally carbo, light and somewhat thinnish body feeling even a bit watery, with a light, grainy and slightly bready maltiness; the spices are there, but not too overpowering, though they do come to the foreground in the finish, with retronasal dried kitchen herb aromas as well as a whiff of fresh lemon balm, but not quite refreshing enough, and I have the impression there are a lot of phenols involved as well; an earthy, leafy hop bitterness pops up as well but only briefly so and there is a yeasty feel as well. Last impression is subdued malt sweetishness with dried, rather ’dull’ spices and a faint glow of pepper heat, not really disturbing the rest. I am not the biggest spice beer fan but I have to admit that this one uses them in a subtle way, not overpowering too much; too bad the basic beer is a very ordinary and not very exciting, stereotypical Belgian blonde. Perhaps more of the Szechuan pepper would literally spice things up here!

33 cl bottle. Pours cloudy yellow with a small white head. Aroma is phenolic, light fruity. Mild sweetness. Toasted. Mild breadish. Bitter and subdued fruity into the finish.

Bottle from Prik & Tik, Maldegem. Hazy yellow colour, white foam. Citrussy, grassy. Bitter and dry, hoppy. Light malty sweetness. Ok beer.

sampled @ “2de Bierproeffestival van De Dijleschuimers”. Pours warm amber. Small white head. Smell is bit sweet, malty. Taste is sharp, sweet, bitter. Some ambermalts. Thin MF, very high carbo. Ok

Thick dense whipped eggwhite-like head, yellowish, over clear golden beer, finely carbonated. Hoppy, citrussy and herbal nose, husks, Hessian sacks. Bitter-herbal, lightly burning MF, helped by the carbonation. Quite dry, hoppy, slightly toasted. Well-carbonated. Kudo’s! Just a good extra dose of fine hops, and a dull beer is transformed into a really good one.

Small white head, receding over fine & well-carbonated (cold)hazed pale yellow-golden beer. White candi sugar, bit floral, lots of pale malts and a tad soapy-herbal aroma. Fine, but not very inviting. Ultra dry, spicy-herbal. The dryness relates linea recta to (too much) white candi sugar, and may be well inforced by the mineral content, which is obvious too. Warming up, sulphur. Light, rather creamy MF despite good carbonation, and, as said, bone-dry. Sorry. This is just boring.

20/11/2015 @home - 33cl bottle from jerre. Amber coloured, small dissipating head. Nose is fruity, spices, caramel. Taste is bitter hops, pepper, light fruity, yeast, caramel, some sweetness.

Dark blond colour with light haze. A pleasant but fairly standard Belgian Blond. Grainy with moderate bitterness.