'Limburgian' blueberry ale commissioned by Streekmarkt.be, a local shop (also webshop) selling regional products; I have a suspicion that the blueberry juice used here comes from the Schrijnwerkers family in Meeuwen-Gruitrode, who also provides the blueberries for the Toëtelèr blueberry ales I tasted a couple of years ago at Wieze Bierfestival and which are effectively commissioned by Schrijnwerkers themselves, but this one is lower in ABV, only uses juice and is sweetened with acesulfame-K, an artificial sweetener two hundred times more sweetening than sugar - looks like I'm in for a ride here... Intricately and thickly 'papery' lacing, vaguely pinkish-tinged off-white, moussy and frothy, thick head eventually thinning and slowly opening in the middle over a cristal clear, beautifully and purely copper-hued red beer with visible sparkling, hazy with sediment. Aroma of blueberry juice indeed, quite a lot of manure (H2S) and cloggy farmland earth which just won't go away completely, soggy old bread, sugared rhubarb, beef broth, red candy, lilac blossoms in spring, egg yolk, blackberry jam, wet dog, cassis, chewing gum, background hints of caramel, damp tree leaves, soap, ketchup, tea bags and banana. Evidently fruity onset, lots of blueberry juice including this fruit's sweetness, sourness and herbal spiciness, with banana- and pear-like esters buried underneath; the sweetness and the sourness are present in more or less equal strength, with the first cloying to the teeth a bit - obviously aided by that acesulfame - and the latter effectuating a superficially dryish effect, with both factors struggling for attention. Fizzy, bit minerally carb, supple and lean, slick and soapy mouthfeel; caramelly and lightly bready maltiness underlies an ongoing sweet-and-sour blueberry juice flavour which gets all the credits here. The battle is solved in the finish, where cloying sweetness persists more strongly than any leftover fruit acidity; breadiness lingers, with chewing gum-like 'Belgian' estery effects, a hint of 'retronasal wet dog' (I guess you need to be a beer geek to comprehend this combination of words) and an only very faint, superficial, somewhat earthy hop bitterish accent that goes lost into the whole. Sweetness lingers and unpleasantly sticks to the teeth, but the sourness continues as well, so that the finish is less horribly sweet than I was fearing, even though it is still way too sticky sweet for me. Spicy notes too, probably of a phenolic nature. Comparable with the Toëtelèr blueberry ales made for the blueberry farmer in Meeuwen-Gruitrode, a simple yet 'artisanal' Belgian fruit ale, but ruined by the addition of that artificial sweetener - no matter if it can technically replace sugar or not, a full-fledged unsweetened version of this beer would certainly have been a much better option. The basic beer is clearly a simple, somewhat soapy Belgian ale, massively buried under a heavy load of not just blueberry juice, but acesulfame sweetness as well, which should have been omitted. Too sweet and old-fashioned for me even if, admittedly, the choice of fruit is everything but old-fashioned in Belgian context, and not free of manure-like, off-putting off-flavours either. Could have been so much better if only the basic beer were better bodied and the pseudo-sugary but annoyingly sweet acesulfame had been left out!

bottle bb1/9/20 ambrata velata schiuma piuttosto abbondante media persistenza vaniglia legna lieve tannico non molto amaro note di frutti di bosco una lieve acidita

04/02/2018 - small glass shared with tderoeck, 77ships and rubin77 @BAB, Bruges. Dark brown with creamy head. Nose is dark malts, caramel, hints of whiskey. Taste is dark malts, some bitterness, sweet caramel, boozy in the end. No oak.

04/02/2018 - small glass shared with tderoeck, 77ships and rubin77 @BAB, Bruges. Clear dark yellow, small head. Nose is sweet malts, fruits, bit wine. Taste is sweet malty, hints of wine, bit spices. Would prefer more BA notes.

F: big, tan, average retention. C: red to brown, hazy. A: malty, honey, caramel, bit fruity, bit vinous. T: malty, caramel, fruity, bit bready, bit vinous, quite sweet for me, bit herbal, medium body, soft carbonation, enjoyed. Sample shared with tderoeck, 77ships and Bierridder_S @ Bruges Beer Festival 2018.

F: white, medium, average retention. C: pale gold, hazy. A: malty, light fruity, grassy, bit white wine, banana. T: malty, fruity, bit vinous, bit orange peels, bit bready, medium body and carbonation, good one but I expected more. Sample shared with tderoeck, 77ships and Bierridder_S @ Bruges Beer Festival 2018.

At Brugs Bierfestival, 4 February 2018. Cheers to Anke & Pieter!

Clear golden with a lasting, small, foamy, white head. Aroma of white grapes, yeast, grain, wood, spices and berries. Tastes medium fruity sweet and light to medium spicy bitter; woody/yeasty finish with a winey touch. Medium body, slick texture, lively carbonation. Sorry, I don't like wine.