7

Nostalgie reflex... Camping heaven.

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

On tap at the 13th Brugge beer festival, Brugge, Belgium. A golden coloured pour with a medium white head on top. Sweet, yeasty, fruity, Belgian tripel. It's OK but there are far better to be found in Belgium.

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

The new tripel in this series, launched in October when the old Blonde Betsy moved to The Brew Society for its production. Sample of two months old now. Egg-white, irregularly but tightly lacing, medium thick, bit uneven-bubbled but generally quite well-retaining, slowly breaking head, misty warm orange-hued peach blonde robe with disparate, but quite enthusiastic visible sparkling. Classic sweet tripel aroma of ripe apricot, banana, mandarin, buttered corn, fresh croissants or croissant dough, sweetclover, honey, young 'jenever', dusty old coriander seed, cloves, moist white pepper, something faintly rubbery (old tyres) and a whiff of DMS (overcooked broccoli) which persists the whole time. Fruity, rounded onset, sweet fruitiness of apricot, banana, peach and a touch of spritzy mandarin, lively carbonation in a 'refined' way and therefore feeling softer than it is, light sourish undertone, slick bready and cereally, doughy maltiness, soft and mellow with lingering honeyish sugariness on top, some clove- and white pepper-like spiciness blended with a coriander seed soapy aspect and a soft, floral hoppiness. The DMS, along with something 'old rainwater puddle'-like, returns retronasally, while in the meantime a brandy-like alcohol effect evolves, warming the finish and adding a late wryness to the throat, with a hot and boozy effect even for a tripel. Other 'afterthoughts' include lots of residual sweetness, 'orange-yellow' fruitiness and very lightly dryish spiciness. Your typical Belgian sweet tripel, as expected; has a certain 'brightness' and vividness in nose and mouth that I also found in the Blonde and which I can appreciate, but the DMS kept bothering me all the way through, even if I have encountered this infernal odour in much more outspoken ways in other beers. All in all, not that bad an execution of a very cliché and, frankly, boring idea.

6.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Local blonde by this 'bierfirma' in Bredene, named after a statue there which is also depicted on the label; has been in existence for years and brewed at various breweries, but now found a new home at the Brew Society, to the occasion of which the range has recently been expanded with - surprise, surprise - a brown and a tripel version. This blonde one, brewed with wheat malt and flavoured with spices, shows an eggshell-white, irregularly but nicely 'barred'-like lacing, medium thick, slowly dissipating but generally very stable head and misty, deep tangerine- to even somewhat amberish-tinged 'metallic' orange blonde beer. Quite bright and vivid aroma (for style) of ripe peach, banana mush, soapy coriander seed, home made orange cake, honey, soggy bread crusts, freshly cut camomile, very strong phenols (cloves, even solvents), touch iron and clear background white 'jenever' (badly hidden alcohol, in other words, which should not be noticeable at all in a beer below the 7% ABV threshold). Fruity, crisp onset, fizzy and quite harshly stinging carbonation but acceptable for a Belgian blonde, lots of vivid fruitiness (ripe pear and peach, banana, freshly cut sweet red apples, orange and even mandarin impressions galore), slick body with a light soapy edge due to the malted wheat, smooth-biscuity and lightly rusk-like with lingering residual sugars with honeyish effect. Evolves into a spicy finish, with the coriander seed very clearly at work, supported by a floral hoppiness that provides retronasal flowery and leafy aspects though remains relatively mild in bitterness; the solventy and dry spice-like phenols return as well, but most importantly, a remarkably astringent, wodka-like 'white' alcohol effect shows up, warming everything - and overpowering the delicate features of hops, yeastiness and spicing. I do not know how many beers of less than 7% AVB I had that showed their alcohol so 'nakedly' and obviously, but I'm sure I can count them on the fingers of one hand. I did not have the earlier versions of this 'Blonde Betsy' brewed at Dilewyns and Bram's Brewery, respectively, so I am unable to say if this Brew Society version is any improvement or not, but judged by itself: quite bright, vivid and lively in its fruitiness and spiciness with an invitingly 'enthusiastic' nose, so everything starts off promising, but the solventy effects and abominably badly hidden alcohol are serious points of concern at least in the sample that reached my tasting table. I still have that new tripel version to taste, but if this 6.9% ABV blonde is already this alcoholic in its finish, I have little hope for that one...

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

The blonde Betsy - an ordinary Belgian blonde with a somewhat sexist image if you ask me - has been brewed by this coastal brewer at various places before it found its current home at Beer Society, and apparently got the company of at least two new ones very recently. Unsurprisingly, these new ones are a dubbel ('bruin') and a tripel - sigh... Anyway: quite the gusher, this one, with foam streaming out of the bottle neck upon opening. After managing this issue and pouring the beer in a proper tasting glass, it shows a medium thick, quite dense and small-bubbled, creamy yet slowly opening, yellowish pale beige head and misty dark chestnut brown robe with glowing purplish-ruby hue. Aroma of brown bread dough, candi sugar, dried figs, lots and lots of iron shavings (quite dominantly so), old raisins, hard caramel, blue plum, wet toast, stewed pear, cloves, sugared tea, old rope. Restrainedly fruity onset, hints of dried banana, dried fig, red apple and some date, sweetish with a clear candi sugar effect yet nowhere cloying, clean and 'taut', with lively yet not annyoingly stinging carbonation; very slick, slightly resinous body, brown-bready and hard-caramelly maltiness, sweetish at first but acquiring a softly bitter toasty edge along the way, in the end reinforced by a peppery, leafy hop bitter element that stretches into the finish with a gently drying effect; meanwhile the metallic aspect from the nose clearly manifests itself along the edges, while obvious, yet pleasantly spicy phenols (clove, nutmeg, touch cinnamon) rise up retronasally. 'Clean' dried-fruitiness and candi sugar aromas linger at the back, contributing to a softly bittersweet ending. More toasty malt bitter than your average (macro-brewed) dubbel, an aspect I have seen showing up in many small-scale, new dubbels in Belgium lately, but a tad more hoppy as well, with a pleasant spicy effect to it; both the strong gushing and the strong metallic aspect are obvious flaws here, but if this brewer manages to solve these two issues, he will be left with a more than decent dubbel and one I might even revisit if I ever find myself in some outdoors café in Bredene...

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Gushing to huge, dense, yellowish head, with lots of lace, over clear metallic copperish-golden beer. Caramel, toasted malts, "beery" nose, bit dried herbs, but generally sweet. Light bitterish-herbal notes on top of caramelly malt, sweetish to sweet. Finish has again a bitterish surge. Very light burning feel, bit slick. Aftertaste is lacklustre, indifferent. Nothing special. Thanks to B & T! --- Beer merged from original tick of Blonde Betsy on 16 Jan 2022 at 09:18 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5. Original review text: Gushing to huge, dense, yellowish head, with lots of lace, over clear metallic copperish-golden beer. Caramel, toasted malts, "beery" nose, bit dried herbs, but generally sweet. Light bitterish-herbal notes on top of caramelly malt, sweetish to sweet. Finish has again a bitterish surge. Very light burning feel, bit slick. Aftertaste is lacklustre, indifferent. Nothing special. Dank aan B & T!

6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

33cl bottle from Spar Oostende. F: huge, egg-white, extremely long lasting. C: deep gold, hazy. A: rich malty, orange peels, spicy, honey, fruity esters, bit yeasty. T: malty, fruity, caramel, bready, bit alcohol touch, honey, bit yeasty, peach, medium body and carbonation, not bad yet bit too simple for me and almost like tripel feeling, enjoyed still.

6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Imported from my RateBeer account as Blonde Betsy (2018-...) (by Bram's Brewery):
Aroma: 5/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 12/20, MyTotalScore: 3/5

12/IV/18 - 33cl bottle @ Katie & Kevin's place - BB: n/a (2018-370) Thanks to Katie and Kevin for sharing the bottle!

Clear orange beer, big creamy off-white head, pretty stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: lots of banana, bit spicy, floral, more spices, some cloves, bit malty. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: spicy, soft bitterness, banana, some cloves, soapy touch. Aftertaste: spicy, hay, dry finish, some banana, rather boring Belgian style, but brewed correctly. Another "crowd pleaser".