The obligatory blonde by this new self-proclaimed 'craft' brewery in Kruibeke near Beveren, steinie bottle from Dranken De Moor; simply contains malt apparently, but the actual label here in front of me does not even have an ingredients list, isn't this - in some lazy and unsatisfying form - obligatory in Belgium? Anyway: gusher, with foam creeping out of the bottle for quite a while after opening. Very foamy, inches thick, dense and very beaten egg-like, pale yellowish white, tightly membrane-lacing head, slowly showing depressions here and there but otherwise exceptionally stable; immediately clouded, warm pale orange-hued peach blonde robe, some darker yeast bits at the bottom. Very estery, phenolic, sweet and thoroughly 'Belgian' nose of orange peel, ripe peach, banana, honeydew melon, prickling carbon dioxide (as if sniffing on a freshly opened, very strongly carbonated bottle of mineral water), freshly grated ginger, soggy croissants, apple peel, dried sweetclover and other sweetish field flowers, dry straw bales, plaster, dusty old 'herbes de Provençe', whipped cream - but no 'true' off-flavours. Spritzy onset, very lively and sharply carbonated as expected (based on the towering head and carbon dioxide effect), distracting a bit from the flavour, which comes across as very estery, with notes of pineapple, peach, banana and green melon, sweetish but with the carbonation adding a sharpish sourish effect. Rounded, soft mouthfeel harshened by that overcarbonation; fluffy breadiness in the middle, soaked in fruity esters, sweetish with some lingering white candi syrup, bit honeyish, more cereally in its base; lots of spicy phenol effects as well, on the verge of becoming a bit too much but not descending into band aid- or other bothersome medicinal effects, remaining lively spicy with aspects of clove, thyme and nutmeg, with the ensuing soapy coriander seed spiciness taking over. Floral hop bitterness in the end, bit earthy especially after adding the yeast sediment, but sufficiently bittering for an ordinary Belgian blonde. Because that is what this is rather than a true 'tripel', regardless of brewer's intent; like the amber in this series, a completely redundant beer, gazillions like these are made everywhere in this country, but it should be noted that apart from the overcarbonation, i could not detect any off-flavours here (not even DMS or something alike) and that certainly is worth a positive mention.

One of the three first beers by a new microbrewery in my home region of Waasland, the village of Kruibeke to be precise, the other ones being a blond and a dubbel, unsurprisingly. Steinie bottle from Dranken De Moor in Haasdonk, bordering on Kruibeke. Gusher, but more or less manageable if you know how to act. As a result, the glass is immediately filled with an inches thick, egg-white, overly foamy, thickly cobweb-lacing, very densely fluffy and pillowy head, diminishing and thinning slowly over a cloudy, deep peach-hued orange beer, a bit paler at the edges, where very fierce, yet very 'tiny' sparkling can be observed; lacks a bit in 'redness' to be truly amber in the strict sense of the word. Aroma of a lot of sourish and nostril-tickling carbon dioxide at first, making room for impressions of cooked apple, ripe apricot and apricot jam, iron shavings (probably head stabilizer), carrot soup, coriander, dust, ripe banana, sweetbread dough, old ginger powder, dry white pepper, tomato peel, even a touch of vague liquorish (of a phenolic nature). Very fruity-estery onset, lots of ripe banana, peach and ripe apricot, lively carbonated as expected but due to the 'minuteness' of the bubbles not stinging harshly (though souring carbonation effects certainly linger on), very rounded and 'fluffy', soft mouthfeel. Soft doughy breadiness in the middle with ongoing esters and strongly upcoming yeasty-spicy phenols, clove-, mint- and liquorish-like but all vaguely so; lingering honeyish sweetness as well, but then a deep earthy and leafy hop bitterness shows up, bringing balance against this sweetness and leaving behind a late but notable spicy 'quinine' kick on the root of the tongue. Something metallic seems to linger about as well, along with soapy coriander and residual malt sweetness. Bit too yeasty for its own good, but certainly not showing any serious flaws; overly phenolic and estery for sure, but I guess that makes this thoroughly Belgian - indeed these guys seem completely oblivious to the international craft beer trends. Old school Belgian even if brand new, not too bad at all, all things considered.