Bottle from Willems en Zoon Grobbendonk. Color: Slightly hazy golden, white head. Aroma: Malty, smoke, subtle herbal and floral notes, hints of smoked meat. Taste: Malty, smoke, smoked ham, peat, floral and herbal hints and light yeasty hints. Just over medium body, average carbonation. Light sweetness, very light bitterness. As smoked / peated beer lover I actally like this, although there are better ones in this style.

Bottle. Color: Slightly hazy golden, frothy white head. Aroma: Malty and hoppy at the same time, hints of smoke. Taste: Overwhelming smoke and ash, hoppy and malty background. I'm surprised by the amount of smoke and ash, compared with the only subtle smoky aroma. A little less smoke and ash, giving more space to the hoppy parts of this beer, at the end of the long lasting finish. Medium body, average carbonation. Dry finish. Starting like eating out an ash tray. Although I'm a smoked beer lover the ash is a bit too overwhelming for me. Getting more balance, with some floral and herbal flavours coming through, when opened longer. Getting more interesting by now, but still not convincing me.

My first saison in about 7 weeks. God, I missed this stuff! This is a good one, great with a wee brunch.

2/VII/21 - 75cl bottle from Geers, shared @ Gentse Biervereniging lambiektasting pt. 2, BB: +5Y bottled: 14/VII/20 (2021-563)

Clear dark brown beer, big creamy beige head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: metallic start, very malty, caramel, grains, soft roast, some chocolate, yeasty. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: pretty roasted, bitter, metallic, yeast, a bit spicy, rather unpleasant, meh. Aftertaste: yeasty, bitter, very roasted, weird and not very nice.

23/V/21 - 75cl bottle @ De Gebrande Winning (St. Truiden), BB: n/a (2021-422) Thanks to ElManana for sharing today’s beers!

Clear blond to straw yellow beer, small creamy white head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: fine yeast aroma, little fruity, some peaches and apricots, ripe pears, floral touch. MF: very lively fine carbonation, medium body. Taste: bit sweet, soft acidity, fruity, some peaches, bit sourish, nice! Aftertaste: more peaches and apricots, bit juicy, soft acidity, some yeast. Decent one.

Bottle at a tasting with the RB boys. Medium-med-thin body, med-high carbonation. Rich maltiness, combines a bit of roasty astringency, coffee, a bit of bready, toasty character. Good but not great.

Slovak tasting may2021. Dark brown color with beige head. Aroma of dark malt, chocolate, caramel, toffee. Taste, dark malt, coffee, light astringency.

Bottle at tasting. Malty aroma and taste, roasty notes, light sourish notes, medium bitter. Medium to full body, malty roasty bitter finish. Average.

Black color with medium beige head. Aroma: toffee, coffee, caramel, roasted malt. Taste: roasted malt, coffee, sour notes. Full body, moderate carbonation, moderate bitterness.

De Vlier’s take on this – in Belgium – once popular style, inspired by the originally Scottish wee heavy (or indeed identical with it) and in itself the source of inspiration for many traditional Belgian Christmas beers. Nice to see a new one of these pop up – ‘old school’ is an understatement here… Membrane-lacing, yellowish beige, medium sized, breaking but generally well-retaining head over an initially clear ruddy bronze-brown beer with burgundy hue, misty with sediment. Aroma of hard caramel but without the sweetness, ferrous spring water, dry tea bags, clove, nutmeg, dark green tree leaves, beech nuts, vague whiffs of apple-flavoured pipe tobacco, toasted brown bread, green bell pepper, iron, elderberry syrup, damp earth, rosehip. Rounded, clean onset, sweetish but notably restrainedly so for the style, hints of apple peel and medlar, some green banana perhaps; minerally, active carb, vaguely metallic edges surrounding a very smooth, bit glueish, very caramelly malt body with a walnutty side accent, developing the expected toasted bitter accent towards the finish. This toasty aspect, typically soft for a Scotch, is accompanied by a herbal, tea- and rosehip-tinged hop bitter note as well as clove and nutmeg impressions lingering around at the back; some warming, but generally relatively well-hidden ‘jenever’-like alcohol rounds things off. Indeed an old-fashioned Belgian style Scotch in all respects: ticks all the boxes and feels clean and focused, initially (before the sediment is added) even as clean as John Martin’s Gordon Finest Scotch, by far the best known example still alive today. Mission accomplished, though in this day and age, it must be possible to draw more out of this style than just a perfect copy of what it was like decades ago…