The fourth beer already in this IllegaaL project, dedicated to promoting artistic projects (so not focused on producing beer as such, making it a doubtful case as a 'bierfirma'); a mysterious one, but the friendly guys behind it were open enough to reveal that it is brewed at Jandrain-Jandrenouille. The label does not reveal anything either - simply because this beer is filled in cans without any label; the only print I can find, is a serial number somewhere near the bottom and the best before date on the bottom of the can. I wonder how 'official' this is - there are some, though not nearly enough, pieces of information a brewery is obliged to mention on the package and none of that is to be found here... Anyway: medium thick, off-white, irregularly but tightly lacing, slowly opening head over a crystal clear, warm and pure golden beer with 'old gold' tinge. Aroma of flour, chewing gum, dust, bread crumbs, sweetcorn, hints of unripe banana, a sweet aspect of industrial apple juice, ripe pear or even honey cookies (weirdly), wet granite rocks, polyester, touch damp earth. Neutral onset, minerally with refinedly stinging carbonation, more rounded pale maltiness further on in a simple, sweetish-grainy, thinnish, slick way, raw barley almost with a softer white-bready touch to it; slight 'powdery' effect in the end, bread crumbs and sawdust, but remaining fairly neutral and bland, even if a gentle floral hop bitterness does develop in the finish. A minerally, almost metallic aspect lingers, along with this subduedly sweetish graininess, but otherwise not much happens. Almost feels like a supermarket lager of the 'premium' echelon, which was probably the intention; honest, but clean, very straightforward and simplistic, mimicking the macro brands, even if for more 'ethical' reasons I would recommend this one instead.

10/04/2019 @home - 33cl bottle from Le Comptoir Belge. Amber coloured, medium white head. Nose is grainy, yeast. Taste is quite raw grains, raw hops, bit yeast, seems unfinished.

Brussels has seen an upswing of modern young micro brewers recently but this one, located in Rixensart less than twenty miles to the southeast of Brussels, seems to have been around for several years already - I remember their Non Peut-Être, which seems to have been discontinued meanwhile. This Illegaal is a modern hoppy Belgian ale drawing attention to the political issue of refugees, causing a lot of social debate in this day and age... Bought online, with a different label from the one shown here, but that seems to be normal for this beer. Thick and frothy, egg-white, foamy head lacing in patches and retaining very well, over an initially cristal clear, almost amber-tinged orange blonde beer. Pleasant, very 'American' pale or amber ale bouquet of marmalade, biscuit, dried mango cubes, sweet paprika, stewing green onions, freshly cut grass, dried orange peel, cookie crumble, cherimoya, granola, dried ginger and a subtle but noticeable onset of oxidation hidden in the background. Cleanly fruity onset, dried banana slices, apricot, dried mango, sweetish with a sourish undercurrent, sharply carbonated and in that sense minerally and a bit numbing; smooth, bit resinous biscuity malt body, peanutty, with a slight metallic side effect somewhere but not obnoxiously so. Becomes increasingly hoppy towards the finish, in a New World kind of way without becoming expressively IPA-like; retronasal candied orange, mango and a touch of grapefruit, whilst building a drying, spicy, wormwood-ish bitterness on the root of the tongue, halting most of the biscuity malt sweetness. Ends powdery, resinous and hop bitter, very quenching and elegant really. Way better than expected, with, as said, a profile highly reminiscent of American style amber ale - even the classic Sierra Nevada pioneer ales seem not that far away. Probably a bit too old already, would love to revisit this fresh from tap.

Bouteille 33cl, BB 09/2019, lot# 397. Orange clair, col fin blanc. Arôme au bouquet fruité tirant sur un plaisant tropical, petite touche mentholée et mandarine. Palais est fruité, note de thé vert, agrumes, le tout sur un effet un peu de c-hops restant dans une approche classique mais bien ficelée. Base maltée plaisante, touche d'épice avec un caractère d'IPA belge.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Jandrain-Jandrenouille Echt (by Brasserie de Jandrain-Jandrenouille):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 13/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5

8/X/17 - 75cl bottle from... can't remember where. Shared @ Arno & Meggy's place - BB: I/2019 (2017-1771) Thanks to whomever was responsible for getting me this bottle!

Clear orange beer, big irregular aery off-white head, unstable, bit adhesive. Aroma: very fruity, some peaches, malty, hint of banana, some pineapple. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty malty, some caramel, sourish touch, banana. Aftertaste: soft bitterness, malty, grains, some caramel, bit of bubble gum. Decent one.

F: huge, creamy, snow-white, long lasting, adhesive. C: golden, hazy. A: malty, fruity, orange, citrus, spicy, yeasty, touch of floral. T: malty, mellow fruity, yeasty, peach, hint of spicy, grassy, medium body, medium carbonation, nothing special but not bad Belgian ale, enjoyed, 0,75l bottle from BelgoMarkt in Brussels.

75 cl bottle. very nice label, very arty ( drawing made up out of hundreds of lines ) yet totally ruined by stupidity as the info (ABV etc ) is just black, thin printed over the black, thin lines. Undreadable for most, and only to be found for the true explorers ! Label doesn’t give much info at all. Pours unclear darker blonde, ok to small white head. Smell is bit sweet, bit yeasty, some malts. taste is full, rather sweet, very balanced, without being to boring. some remote bitterness. not much aftertaste. A very well made, nice drinkin’ Belgian blonde, but not truly memorable amongst all beers on today’s market.

F: big, tan, average retention. C: coppery, light hazy. A: tropical fruits, tangerine, grapefruit, passion fruits, hint of caramel. T: malt, tropical fruits, grapefruits, lemon, nice long lasting bitterness on the palate, good balanced and tasty modern Belgian ale but for me close to IPA style, medium body, medium carbonation, 0,33l bottle from BelgoMarkt in Brussels.