As far as I know, my home village never had a brewery at least not in modern times, so I personally found it quite exciting to find that now it does have its own beer, even if it is developed an brewed by Boelens near Sint-Niklaas: this Vechter was made for a private commissioner who fought against but sadly finally succumbed to cancer, and is now continued by his surviving relatives, with all profits going to the Stichting Tegen Kanker. Bottle from De Vidts in Sint-Niklaas. Eggshell-white, foamy, papery lacing, irregularly edged, opening head on a hazy peach-tinged straw blonde beer. Aroma of old orange peel, bread crust, potato peel, baker's yeast, halfripe banana, minerals, sweetbread, touch pineapple. Fruity onset, banana ester mixed with peach and pineapple accents, medium carbonation, smooth bready maltiness; long, bit rooty, zesty hop bitter finish, quite spicy but soaked up by yeasty breadiness, with some yeasty phenolic effects lingering. The commissioners may claim that this is an original recipe, I remain unconvinced, this is very likely an alias of Hubert - but in the absence of hard evidence, it seemed legitimate to grant it a separate entry here. Ordinary Belgian blonde, in all, but the hops are proportionally firm and show a citric and zesty twist - even if remaining subtle and buried under yeasty effects - factors that make it a bit more interesting than average in this style.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Boelens Vechter (by Boelens):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 12/20, MyTotalScore: 3.3/5

7/VI/19 - 33cl bottle @ Belgian Ticks Tasting, home, BB: 31/V/20 - (2019-822) Thanks to Alengrin for sharing the bottle!
Little cloudy yellow beer, small creamy irregular white head, little stable. Aroma: quite some citrus, bit herbal, malty touch, little oxidized. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: bitter start, come citrus, pretty dry, slightly sourish. Aftertaste: more bitter hops, bit grassy, chemical bitterness.

Sample @ BIRA BIRA beer festival #1. As amber version - both entries really need to be corrected. D'après l'histoire, un couple de belges installés en Italie avec un B&B et qui veulent allier le vin et la bière. Ambrée, col fin blanc-cassé. Arôme au bouquet fruité, vin modéré, le tout reste très belge dans les notes - effet ester marqué dans la levure. Le bouquet vin est modéré se mêlant aux notes plus classiques d'une bière forte belge. Palais est orienté belge, sucre candi, caramel, fruité noir, pointe de vin rouge en retrait mais modéré, je suppose que c'est de l'ajout et pas de mise en barrique à lieu. Note de dates, douceur de vin bcp trop sur la fin

330ml bottle. Dark brown colour with average to huge, thick, fluffy, moderately lasting, minimally lacing, off-white to beige head. Slightly vinous, yeasty fruity and dark malty aroma, hints of overripe red apple, plum, dried fruit, raisin, sultanine, fig, overtones of oat flakes. Taste is sweet-ish, yeasty fruity and slightly yeasty spicy, dark malty, notes of dried fruit, plum, fig, raisin, a touch of liquorice, some cherry; minimally warming, alcoholic finish. Smooth, soft, slightly sticky palate.

Beer made for an art platform that temporarily collaborates with the Vooruit arts centre in Ghent - so available from tap at the Vooruit Café there. Thick and creamy, cobweb-lacing, egg-white head, misty peach blonde robe with ochre-ish edges. Aroma of peach, chewing gum, banana, drying orange peel, white bread, moist white pepper, baking soda, dried wormwood leaves, sweet potato mash. Sweetish and sourish, fruity onset, sharply carbonated, peach, apple and banana notes, supple mouthfeel, white-bready and lightly caramelly maltiness with ongoing fruity aspects as well as upcoming phenolic spicy notes, quickly countered by a very confident, rooty, leafy, dry citrus peel-like, spicy, long-lasting hop bitterness, releasing citrus peel notes retronasally as well. Belgian blonde with IPA ambitions, probably just Waaslander with amplified and americanized hopping, but just because of that, far from Boelens' worst effort and one I'd happily revisit next time I'm at the Vooruit's café.

New blonde beer developed by a hobby brewing project named Hopperdehop and commercialized through Boelens; bottle at De Karper in Ghent. Egg-white, mousy, creamy, stable, quite regularly shaped head, hazy golden robe with pale ochre glow, cloudy and more straw blonde with sediment. Aroma of ripe banana, red apple, powder sugar on a hot pancake, straw, raw potato, honey, dusty old coriander seed, chewing gum. Sweetish onset, clear banana ester, pineapple and pear notes, sharp and minerally, bit stinging carbonation, simple white-bready and cereally malt sweet body with clear soapy and softly spicing coriander seed and a grassy, floral hop bitter note in the finish, mild but quite effective. The banana ester lingers beyond this hop accent. Quite an ordinary, but technically decent Belgian blonde.

33cl Bottle from Vonk. Hazy deep golden colour, white head. Aroma of all sorts of apples, malty, touch of caramel, light spicy/funky. Flavour is medium sweet, light boozy, apples, apple sauce, caramel, malt, light yeasty, bitter finish. Medium bodied, firm carbonation. Decent Tripel

New Boelens beer with wine added, made by a Flemish winery in Zottegem, Casa Grimaldi, which also commissions a blonde version (Grimaldie, elsewhere in this database). This is the ‘red’ version (“Grimaldie Rood”, so to speak), tasted from a bottle bought at Willems in Grobbendonk. Medium thick, off-white, opening and unstable head leaving behind some thin islands in the middle; lightly hazy, deep copper-hued amber robe with ruddy tinge. Aroma at first quite reminiscent of rosé wine, with additional notes of tea bags, candyfloss, fried red apples, iron, caramel, rosehip, dried apricot, dry clay, fig, raisin bread, glue and weird – probably largely phenolic – aromatic background notes of cough syrup and patchouli. Sweetish onset with a thin sourish edge which, with the necessary imagination, could indeed be compared with wine tartness, but only very faintly so; red apple, banana and apricot fruitiness, lively carbed, with a smooth-edged, bit resinous mouthfeel. Caramelly malt base with a sweet-nutty edge but a bit metallic too, leading to a herbal, still largely sweetish finish with rosehip and cough syrup accents as well as some rusty oxidation and again that vague rosé wine effect; hoppiness is of an earthy, herbal nature but offers very little bitterness, while the throat is gently warmed by gin-like alcohol. Weird, certainly among the most unusual Boelens beers I had to date, but interesting to their standards at least; there is indeed a clear ‘wine-esque’ feature to it. Too sweet for me though, and seemingly intended as a fruity, sweet ‘apéritif’ beer like there are more around in Belgium since several years.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Broere Marcel (by Boelens):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 12/20, MyTotalScore: 3.1/5

19/I/19 - 33cl bottle @ Nieuwjaarsreceptie Gentse Biervereniging, BB: n/a - (2019-107) Thanks to everyone for the huge bottle share!
Clear yellow beer, creamy white had, very stable, adhesive, leaving some lacing in the glass. Aroma: some honey, sweet impression, pretty oxidized, ripe banana. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: malty, grains, hay, unpleasant bitterness, metallic touch. Aftertaste: grains, hay, cow fodder, sugary, ripe banana, too sweet, yeast, sugary, meh.