The ordinary Belgian blonde in Schietveld's range, from a pack of Antwerpian beers bought at a Carrefour hypermarket. Snow white, moussy, frothy, bit irregular but stable head, misty yellow-golden robe with lively visible sparkling. Aroma of white bread crumbs, green pear, light unripe pineapple, dry straw, field flowers, potato peel, wholegrain crackers. Sweetish onset, mild banana ester mingled with hints of pear and very faint pineapple, sharpishly carbonated with somewhat numbing effect; grainy and white-bready malt core, wholegrain crackers again but subtly so, touch of coriander, further spiced with a floral and grassy hoppiness which offers quite a pleasant, medium long bitterness. Sweetish cereally pale malty notes linger. Solid, bit boring but certainly correct blonde, less outspokenly sweet and spicy than usual, with a decent amount of hop bitterness - there is a lot worse in this particular segment.

33cl botte. clear golden beer with a white head. Aroma of pale malt, some herbal and grassy hops, honey. Taste of mid sweet pale malt, some honey, mild herbal hops.

Schietveld's first, brewed at Danny, a classic old school Belgian dubbel. Steinie bottle from Wijnegemse Drankenhandel. Medium thick, hardly lacing, moussy, pale greyish white head, slowly showing gaps after a while, sitting on an initially completely clear and translucent, mahogany brown beer with glowing dark orange-amber hue, turning completely murky bronze-brown with sediment. Sweet aroma of old caramel candy, candied orange peel and even fresh orange juice somewhere, dried plums, candied figs, soapy coriander seed, brown sugar, raisins, old ginger powder, dried peppermint leaves, subtler hints of dusty cacao powder, canned beetroot slices, iron (and not in the good, 'natural' way but luckily vague), nutmeg, sandpaper, dry earth, 'jenever'. Sweet onset as expected, lots of residual 'brown' sugariness draped over fruity notes of fig, banana and pear, refreshing orangey edges, medium carbonation, bit minerally with mineral water-like aspects lingering after swallowing; bit resinous, rounded middle, feeling a tad lighter than its near-8% ABV. Growing metallic aspect in the middle, laterally accompanying a typical 'dubbel maltiness' of caramelly, bit pecan-nutty and eventually slightly bitterish toasty flavours with some sticky sweetness on top. More dryness in the finish - fortunately - established by an earthy, late and gentle but relatively well-placed hop dose with hayish and herbal character, and, more so, by a drying, strong soapy spiciness from very obvious coriander seed. Curaçao, its closest friend, is very, very present as well, adding further spiciness but also a bit of 'fraîcheur' in the final stage. Both spices clash a bit with the toasty bitterishness of the malts, but it is the metallic edges I have more issues with; in the very end, a somewhat astringent, 'jenever'-like alcohol wryness shows up too, clashing even more with all the rest and obnoxiously hanging around for quite a long time, something I utterly detest. This dubbel ends less sweet than it began, which is a plus, but other than that, this is once again a very old-fashioned beer, things like this have been brewed in Belgium for generations (I guess the Schietveld guys preferred not to fix what isn't broken). So there you are: as classical as it gets, bit going into overdrive with the old coriander-curaçao combo (revived by the late Pierre Celis, bless him), too alcoholic and downright boring for the more educated palate. Almost feels like a Christmas beer, perhaps more suitable for the colder months...

Light brown with lasting thin head. Aroma and flavour have sweet malts and some raisin and caramel. Well rounded and quite full bodied.

Bottle 330ml. @ home. [ As Het Schietveld Kolonel ].Light unclear medium brown amber colour with a average, frothy to crreamy, good lacing, mostly lasting to diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, bread, caramel, sweet malt, dark malt, moderate yeasty, belgioum yeast, fruity yeast, dark fruit, raisin, light to moderate brown sugar, licorice rott - anis seed. Initial flavor is moderate sweet and light to moderate bitter, finish flavor is moderate sweet mand moderate to heavy bitter with a average to long duration, spicy, dark malt, dark fruit, belgium yeast, anis seed - licorice root, finish flavor is burnt - caramelized malt bitter. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20180220] 7-3-6-3-11

@ Wieze Bierfestivql 2017. Pours unclear caramelly brown, small white head. Smell is bit sweet, leaves. Taste is full, sweet, complex, bit bitter. Earthy, some chocolate. Fairly complex.