33cl bottle from Carrefour Market Cours St. Michel in Brussels.
F: medium, white, average retention.
C: pale gold, hazy.
A: citrus, grapefruits, pineapples, lime.
T: medium malty base, citrus, mandarin, pineapples, bit herbal, decent bitterness, medium carbonation, nothing really special here, drinkable.

33cl bottle from Carrefour Market Cours St. Michel in Brussels.
F: big, white, good retention.
C: gold, almost clear.
A: citrus, malty, grapefruits, floral.
T: light malty base, citrus, grapefruits, lime, floral, nice balanced bitterness, bit mineral, medium carbonation, easy drinkable, good one.

A slightly hazy golden beer with a big good lasting white head. Aroma of spicy and floral hops, flowers, belgian yeast accents. Taste of herbal and floral malt, spicy hops, banana accents, moderate to high carbonation.

The Circus brewery in West-Flanders offering a tripel with "herbes de Provençe", a traditional southern French mix of herbs usually containing at least rosemary, marjoram, savory and thyme but I stress the word 'usually' as lavender, tarragon, parsley and others also occur. I am far from sure if I want to taste such a mix in beer - I am always wary when it comes to "kruidenbier" - but let us give this one a try. Something of a gusher, but manageably so if you are stand-by. Irregular, coarse, large-bubbled, off-white, crackling, busily plaster-lacing, breaking but unevenly stable head over a misty peach blonde robe with pale ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of indeed very strong herbalness, reminiscent of chervil in the first place (to me at least), lavender, marjoram and - somewhat less - tarragon, mixed with notes of bayleaf, clove, autumn apples, minute soup with tomato flavour (oddly - but the "herbes de Provençe" apparently have this effect), old curry powder, horseradish, spice bread, green pear, field flowers, grass, banana peel, "graanjenever". Estery onset but not very sweet, impressions of old wrinkled apple, green pear, some banana and a dash of unripe peach, fizzy carb but not continuously stinging, smooth and fluffy mouthfeel consisting of soft bready malts (cereally-sweetish and a bit cracker-like) soaked in this exaggerated herbaceousness which grows and grows, with perfumey, soapy and soupy (chervil!) effects I cannot appreciate, because this 'bouquet garni' stands in the way of everything else and thus reduces complexity and disturbs balance. Thyme, marjoram and perhaps (young) bayleaf dominate along with that annoying chervil effect, meanwhile hops are reduced to a floral presence in the background, providing just a bit of bitterness in the end but not enough to overrule this herbal overdose. Alcohol admittedly remains well hidden. Circus or not - and I did have some tasty beers from them in previous years - this is an abomination: the herbal effects from the 'Provencal' herbs are so strong here that they almost become nauseating. As a result, I find this concoction difficult to drink - in fact I would have rather had the umpteenth unnecessary sweet coriandered tripel than this soupy-soapy interpretation. "Herbes de Provençe" belong in ratatouille and other southern French dishes - if used relatively freshly and not in the form of an old, dry, dusty herbaceous mess, the way one encounters the concept all too often outside of southern France - but clearly they do not belong in beer. I can hardly imagine even the most seasoned tripel drinker enjoying this - I myself am hardened enough to crude Belgian tripels, but this one I could not physically finish, hence my low rating. "Uncalled for" is the very least one can say here - hopefully this idea of flavouring any beer with "herbes de Provençe" is soon abandoned never to be seen again.

16/V/25 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared with Thirstybird @ home, BB: III/2026 (2025-474)

Little cloudy orange blond beer, big irregular creamy head, unstable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: nice, herbal, spicy, Belgian style yeast, some barnyard. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice, pretty fruity, pears, soft acidity, herbal, yeasty, some malts, nice! Aftertaste: more yeast, vry spicy, herbal touch, peppery, grains, somewhat sweet, ripe banana.

1/V/25 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: II/2027 (2025-426)

Clear gold blond beer, big solid creamy white head, stable, adhesive, leaving some lacing in the glass. Aroma: pretty fruity, some tropical fruits, yeasty, banana, a little herbal, lemony, minty touch. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: good bitterness, very resinous, fruity, some citrus, grapefruit. Aftertaste: fruity, sweet malts, good bitterness, citrus, zesty.

Weicher, etwas alkoholischer Beginn mit Getreidenoten, moderate Süße, weich. Spritzig, trocken getreidig, mittellanger Abgang, rund. 10/9/9/9//9

A clear golden yellow beer with a white head. Aroma of basil, herbs, pale malt. Taste of intense herbal malt, basil, lemongrass, long bitter finish.

Stark kräutriger Beginn, Rosmarin, Anis, moderate Herbe, moderate Süße. Weich, dann etwas bitter, zum Ende hin zuckrig. OK, speziell. 8/7/7/7/9/7