Martens

Commercial Brewery in Bocholt, Limburg, Belgium 🇧🇪

Established in 1758

Contact
Reppelerweg 1, Bocholt, 3950, Belgium
Subsidiaries
Description
Brewery Martens has been in business for 260 years. Throughout our rich history, which remains embedded in our native town of Bocholt to this very day, the brewery has always remained in hands of the Martens family. Yet, while we put great store by our family history, all eight generations of the Martens family have also continuously been driven by innovation and state-of-the-art processes, which is what has made us into one of the most modern and innovative breweries in the country today.

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9

Tried on 13 Dec 2024 at 16:51


6

Tried on 13 Dec 2024 at 16:51


3.6
Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 4

The 'Euro strong lager' edition of Aldi's Hopvil, also produced by Martens in Limburg; can from the Aldi supermarket in Sint-Denijs-Westrem (Ghent). Thick, foamy, densely moussey, firm and closed, off-white, busily cobweb-lacing head on a crystal clear, pure golden blonde robe with slight 'old gold' tinge and one single string of fine-bubbled sparkling in the middle. Aroma of molten granulated sugar, sugared rice, industrial honey, sweet corn, some iron (stronger when warming up), plaster, apple flavouring produced by a chemical factory, some banana even, cheap white rum and even cheaper wodka, acryl, warm cotton cloth. Sweet onset in a very monodimensional way - granulated sugar and nothing else, with medium carb and slick, slender body, even a bit on the watery side for a beer of this strength. Sweetish grainy core of clearly inferior quality, severely eroded by candi sugar syrup, feeling 'empty' and light, with added sugars given the questionable task of filling up the whole thing, a task at which they miserably fail; no flavours develop here, everything remains stuck in this monotonous, grainy plus sugary 'discours', flanked by slight metallic edges. Only in the very end something does change, and that is not hops (even if a very faint grassy note is there if you want to make the effort of looking for it) but of course alcohol, even though I must admit that this time it does not harshly scorch away the little flavours that are there, but only warms, relatively gently even for this particular - abonimable - class of beer. Wodka-like, somewhat astringent alcohol nevertheless lingers, of course, even adding some 'fake' bitterness which in this case is believably supported by a frugal dash of hops - but by that time none of the very few flavours that were around at the start, are still standing. Feels very barren and empty, simplistic and industrial, but I must admit that in this specific genre of consistently horrible 'beers', this one is not the worst; it tastes like old Hopvil with added white sugar and alcohol, nothing more, nothing less. Indigestible and brutal to the educated beer palate as expected - and as usual in this 'style' - but admittedly perhaps just a tad less so than many of its congeners. Obvious drain pour, but less dramatically so than some of John Martin's finest "Finest" lagers, if I have to bring up that dreadful memory again.

Tried on 26 Oct 2024 at 00:51

gave a cheers!

4.2
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4

Can looks right, but this is 4.2%. Gold, a cm of white head. Cheap smelling light bread, apple skin, some cardboard. But taste is a little cleaner than than, if sweet. Low, slightly spiced bitterness. Real industrial Eurolager.

Tried from Can on 07 Aug 2024 at 14:36


5.5

Tried on 06 Aug 2024 at 12:50


4.8
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4.5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 6

Blik 50cl thuis. Agave, lemon, citrus, zoet, suikers, limonade, fruitig, grainy, maltig. (26-7-2024).

Tried from Can on 26 Jul 2024 at 20:07


5

Tried from Bottle on 17 Jul 2024 at 18:43


2.8
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 2

Can@Tallinn Crap Beer Festival. Golden colour with a small white head. Aroma is metallic, some alcohol and quite sweet grainy and maizeish tones. Flavour is just pure sweetness and rather boozy overall.

Tried from Can on 30 Jun 2024 at 20:22


2.4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 1.5

Can@Tallinn Crap Beer Festival 2024. Golden colour with a small white head. Aroma is very sweet peach and sugar. Flavour is sweet peach essence. Quite boozy and sweet. Harsh.

Tried from Can on 18 Jun 2024 at 19:46


2.8
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 2

Can 500ml at TCrBF. Metallic nose. Golden colour and small white head. Light-bodied. Very alcoholic, just some sweet malts.

Tried from Can on 15 Jun 2024 at 12:40