7

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Fles thuis geprobeerd met LiekevdV en Lisanne. Het is een troebel geel bier met een volle schuimkraag. Het heeft een moutige en kruidige geur. De smaak is moutig, kruidig en hoppig.

5.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

Boelens' sweet cherry beer, probably based on Waaslander; light gusher but manageable. Coarse, irregular, off-white, moussy head over a misty deep ruby red beer with quite fierce carbonation throughout. Aroma dominated by a lot of actual sweet cherry juice, but some red candy and bubblegum as well, albeit very limited; other impressions include stewed rhubarb, white bread crumbs, sweet plum tomato, nectarine, straw, rosé wine, fresh figs, ginger and something rubbery. Lots of sweet cherry juice in the mouth, but edged by a fruity sourishness which is further accentuated by the sharp (over)carbonation; underlying estery hints of peach and banana too. Some bubblegum and red candy 'artificialness' hidden in the background, but it is the real cherry juice that keeps dominating, over a light bready malt body; slight earthy hop bitter note in the tail, along with less flattering rubbery and sweaty accents. Overly sweet and artificial cherry beers seem to be in decline in recent years - at last - but as a reaction, many traditionalist breweries are releasing a new type, in which sweetness is still dominant, but sourness gets to shine as well, even if they usually remain a bit artificial and one-dimensional. This is a very typical example of that - more digestible to me than the syrupy red candy krieks I had to endure in my rating carreer, but this type of one-sided, light, crowd-pleasing fruit ales will never be my personal favorites in terms of style even if they are made with actual fruit juice and less sugar.

7.6

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Cette Santa Bee est bien brouillonne, dommage car elle possède des arômes intéressants. Mais trop peu d'équilibre pour qu'elle soit réellement appréciable. On ne peut cependant lui retirer la chaleur nécessaire pour en faire une bière d'hiver avec un alcool très efficace. Robe brune, foncée (EBC aux environs de 50), la mousse beige nappe à peine la surface de la bière. Le nez est plutôt aérien, sur des arômes complexes mais peu équilibrés de café, caramel, pruneaux, fruits confits et porto, le tout sous un alcool bien présents (8,5 % Abv, paraissant davantage). A la dégustation, l'attaque se rapproche du nez, des épices en complément, mais également avec une présence acidulée perturbante. La deuxième bouche se déséquilibre complètement, avec d'un côté l'alcool, bien présent et de l'autre la présence acidulée liée aux fruits noirs et aux épices. L'ensemble est particulier, dissonant. L'arrière bouche, instable, manque d'ampleur. Il se porte davantage sur le malt avec des arômes de pruneau, café et chocolat. La troisième bouche dans la continuité de la seconde est la plus intense aromatiquement (et ça envoie pas mal notamment sur l'alcool), mais également la plus fraîche avec le duo amertume/acidulé, avec des arômes prépondérants de fruits confits et de porto. Le final, retombe quant à lui pour rester sur le malt. Trop disparate, on ne comprend pas réellement le conte d'hiver de cette Santa Bee.

6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

33 cl bottle. Pours cloudy yellow. Huge hite head. Aroma is fruity and slight herbal. Smoth fruity. Slight bitter. Mellowand smooth fruity. Herbal hoppy.

7.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

zwart bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is krachtig, lichtzoet en kruidig met iets van zoethout, anijs en drop. Mooi kerstbier, niet te zoet en mooi in balans.

7

Imported from untappd on 02-05-2020

7

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

At Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, Ghent. Pours hazy yellow with a lasting, frothy, off-white head. The aroma contains honey, caramel, hops, herbs, sugar, lemon & orange. It tastes light to medium fruity sweet and light to medium hoppy bitter, with a dry, herbal finish. Medium body, slick texture, fizzy carbonation. Fine example of a honey beer.

6

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6

After hearing about this beer's existence in Lokeren from my girlfriend and after meeting one of the initiators of this beer, I was eager to try this and found it at Van Eetvelde in Lokeren; it is the first product of yet another would-be 'brewery' ('Brouwerij De Hazen') which in fact created it in a kitchen installation and commercialized it originally through Paenhuys near Sint-Niklaas, but now at Boelens. I had a Paenhuys rendition for my original rating here, but thanks to the brewer, I am now able to taste its new Boelens form and compare it with the original. Named for the sculptures of the silver hares that greet visitors to the town of Lokeren, sculptures which are unambiguously shown on the front label as well. Medium thick, regular, dense, creamy, off-white head, no more gushing (at all) which was still the case in the Paenhuys edition and looking more stable - and attractive now, with a tight 'membrane' of papery lacing around the edges; immediately misty, warm and deep orange-hued, almost amberish peach blonde beer with a 'fog' of yeast throughout. Aroma is, however, still more or less the same: banana-flavoured bubblegum and a whole lot of it, quite outspoken coriander seed, melting powder sugar, honey, ripe pineapple, peach jam, lightly toasted bread, baker's yeast, young 'jenever', dried dandelion leaves, soap, soggy peanuts, very strong clove- and even liquorice-like phenols, gingerbread, rose petals, 'beschuit', spoiled carrots, egg yolk, less band aid now in the Boelens version - but a whole lot more DMS (overcooked, sulfuric cauliflower) heavily weighing in on the whole and generally making it less pleasant than it was originally, but then I am oversensitive to this stinky substance, I suppose. Sweet onset, peach, pineapple and a lot of banana isoamylacetate, bubblegummy, with a notably softer, more 'mediated' form of carbonation than was the case with Paenhuys, yet still somewhat minerally; some basic sourishness underneath, developing further towards the end. Residual, honeyish and now seemingly more outspoken sugariness burdens a bready and mildly nutty, eventually lightly toasted malt body, but in the end, the bitterness shows up (even at a fairly mild 30 IBU if I remember correctly what the abovementioned initiator told me), in a relatively harsh, leafy, rooty, peppery way, releasing florally hoppy notes retronasally - yet meeting a strong load of 'Belgian' phenols, albeit less 'medicinal' and band aid-like than in the Paenhuys version; weirdly, this Boelens version has more liquorice-like phenol effects than the unpleasant 'unnatural' effects created by Paenhuys, so in this particular detail, Boelens does a lot better than Paenhuys. Ends earthy and very bready due to yeastiness, but still a lot less 'dirty' in this Boelens version than in the Paenhuys version, which was downright unpleasant due to the turbulent yeastiness, with a somewhat starchy effect after swallowing; warming gin-like alcohol was there in the Paenhuys version yet remaining relatively well-behaved, but now seems to have become more outspoken and 'heating', almost 'jenever'-like and wry in the Boelens version, a bit too much so for its own good. The rooty hop bitterness, however, is accentuated by that alcohol (seems logical at only 30 IBU). This is basically a Flemish version of an old school Wallonian 'ambrée' of which I had two different new ones (as in: made by new micro breweries) recently and in comparison, this is quite comparable; the intentions are relatively good, in trying to deviate a bit from the omnipresent golden tripel standard here in Flanders, which in itself is not a bad idea at all, to be honest. If I have to compare the original Paenhuys execution of this beer - from last summer up until last week, I'm guessing - with the current Boelens version, it is clear that this beer has saved its basic properties, but there are goods and bads to everything: the gushing problem has been resolved, but there is a whole lot more DMS in the nose now (which was all but unnoticeable in the Paenhuys bottle but very upfront and annoying in this Boelens bottle) and the alcohol somehow seems to have become a bit more harsh and astringent. If I must make a choice, I still prefer this new Boelens form slightly over the original Paenhuys form but it's a difficult choice since I passionately hate both gushing (Paenhuys) and DMS (Boelens). If they really want to move forward with this beer, regardless of the fact that the average beer-chugging 'Lokerenaar' will probably not be bothered too much by the details I've been trying to describe here, then I do think moving away from both Paenhuys and Boelens all the same would be a good idea - 'Proef' is probably not an option anymore now that it has been practically 'usurped' by Danish craft, but likely Anders is able to do this without that very unpleasant DMS odour, to name one. Take my advice, Wilbrecht, the future may look bright if you make the right choices! In any case: big thanks for the bottles, glass and beer mat, you can rest assured that they will be cherished and put to good use. Just remember that creating and cultivating a truly great beer here in Belgium (or anywhere else) is not an easy task especially in these internationally beer-hyped times, and takes a lot of passion and devotion.