Bottle at Hoptimist. Brugge. Gold colour lasting white head. Very herby on aroma. Herby im the mouth. Really quite herby. Oregano basil in this. Not much hop. OK. Bit too herby.

Good, ever so slightly yellowish head, dense, over hazy, light foxy-amber beer. Exotic fruit, not overly sweet, some rosewater, faint resin. Taste however turns out way too sweet for a true IPA. The C-hops are there, in the background, but the overload of restsweetness dominates. The taste is faintly earthy, rather than resiny. Medium bodied, very well-carbonated; sticky feel in the aftertaste. As said, too sweet an IPA. The name on the bottle mentions "blond", which it isn't really - Fausse blonde?

After an afternoon spent walking, this was the perfect beer. Gotta love that Belgian foam! Surely this must be one of the last Belgian saisons left for me to tick 😉

Draught Very good thick yellow head over hazy yellow beer. Fresh hops, citrus, ever so faint cream, sweet grains in the background. Grains, with a bitter hoppy finish. The maltbacking is there, but the hops remain well in front. Just not-dry. Very good MF, feels pretty well-bodied for its 6.5%. Nice drinkable try for the new fad cold IPA.

Strong winter ale by this circus-themed brewing project in the Kortrijk region, flavoured in the rich and colourful tradition of old school Belgian Christmas ales - with gingerbread, among other, undefined 'herbs'. I saw this on the menu of one of the catering businesses in Ghent's Wintercircus, the unique 'stone circus' building which was - after having been used for decades as a garage and then left decaying for another two decades - restored, refurbished and repurposed by the city council, now functioning as a prestigious public building, a technological hub and a state-of-the-art concert hall (basement floor); unfortunately however, they were always out of this one beer on their menu I had not yet tasted, but then I stumbled upon it in an Okay supermarket in the station neighbourhood. Medium thick, busily shred-lacing, pale greyish white, slowly breaking but generally very stable head (especially seen the ABV and the added ingredients); clear, deep and very pure amber robe with ruddy 'core' and with strings of sparkling rising up in the middle. Remains clear till the last drop so obviously filtered - and pasteurised. Aroma of hard caramel, very strong candyfloss, indeed quite clear (dry) 'speculoos' and other dry cookies but rather volatile and much weaker after a while, almond-scented bath soap to even lady's perfume (in a sweet way), rosewater, coriander seed, candied peach, dried banana, honey liqueur, red candy for some reason, sugared tea, 'kruidenjenever', clove, background whiff of damp earth or even manure but luckily very volatile. Sweet onset, prickly due to sharp carbonation especially for this style, candyfloss- and bubblegum-like isoamylacetate and even an explicit reference to red candy for some reason (which I passionately hate), slight underlying sourishness; vague hints of ripe banana, some pear and apricot, but in a 'dead' and non-estery kind of way. The 'speculoos' flavouring builds over a very slick yet rounded, caramelly core with almondy sides; a 'cooked' effect of pasteurisation sadly appears too, along with the added 'herbs', coriander- and clove-like, but not in a very natural manner. The malts seems to acquire a very light toasty-bitterish note but never get that far - and very clearly are complemented by a firm dose of sugars, 'pumping up' the volume and basically sterilising the flavours. Herbal hop bitterness in the end - but more bitterness seems to come from the added flavourings, which by this stage are not very speculoos-like anymore and remain annoyingly candy-like. Warming to rather wry, whisky-like alcohol in the finish, highlighting the caramelly sweetness, the herbs and - worse - that irritating bubblegumminess and perfumeyness. Artificially flavoured, perfumed, cooked to death and pasteurized: this is a complete fake of a winter ale and in that sense more on a par with the likes of Grimbergen Winter or Leffe Winter than with the Scotch-based artisanal Christmas beers of old Belgian lore I was hoping to revisit. This Circus brewery has chosen the path of cheap 'commerce' too, that much is clear. Not as bad as that Bière des Amis winter beer I had a while ago - but not too far removed from it either... I wish I had even a Corsendonk Christmas Ale or something like that at hand to wash this perfumed disgrace down with.

A clear golden yellow beer with a white head. Aroma of mild citrusy hops, flowers, pale malt. Taste of sharp citrusy hops, flowers, hay, moderate bitterness.