(bottle 0,33l from topvino.cz online shop) Overall: Good. Some interesting floral/herbal flavor. Aroma: Sweet, spicy, some floral/herbal. Appearance: Hazy pale golden. Long lasting white head. Taste: Medium sweet, spicy, some floral/herbal. Palate: Medium body. Light sticky texture. Bitter finish.

Newish Vicaris beer, flavoured with flax, a crop very traditionally cultivated in the region where the brewery is situated so I guess, like Leroy's flax-less Vlasbier, this beer is to be seen as a kind of tribute to the local flax and linen industry; the only other beer I ever tasted that contained flax for the same reason, was Brouwersatelier's final opus, called Brew Mutation Omega, but in that one only (unbroken) linseed was used and had very little - if any - influence on the taste so this one might well be the very first in the world to actually use flax (stems and leaves) as is claimed on the label. Medium thick, firm, irregularly but consistently lacing, off-white, dense and stable head on an initially near clear, warm yellowish golden beer with lots of visible sparkling, turning misty and deeper apricot-tinged with sediment. Aroma initially dominated by strong carbon dioxide but once this fades, shifting to impressions of white bread crust, wholegrain crackers, freshly cut green garden weeds (the flax, I am guessing), drying mandarin peel from the hops, nutmeg, fresh green apple, slate and other minerally effects, dry straw, raw parsnip, green banana, white soap, grass, raw potatoes. Lots of effervescence in the onset, very minerally and stingy, distracting from the flavour; I pick up some green-fruity notes of unripe banana and green apple but little sweetness. Rounded, slick body, white-bready maltiness with a grainy core and indeed a certain soapiness and 'weediness' I think represents the flax; soon, however, the hops take over and block every refined detail that may be connected to the ingredient celebrated here, making for a long, rooty, floral, grassy bitter finish, drying but effectively quenching. Soapy and grainy notes linger, together with minerally effects and a brief but convincing nutmeg- and mildly clove-like spiciness; the label mentions citrus hops having been used here, but their aromatic character remains all but absent - this clearly was not dry-hopped and perhaps this was the better decision, if you want that flax effect to come through. For me, the flax adds a soapy, weedy character to the whole, but I cannot say I have eaten a lot of it - I have in fact never eaten any flax, like the vast majority of the population, so it remains conceptually difficult to convey flavour of something almost nobody on the planet knows the flavour of. In general, a drying, well-bittered, quenching blonde, but the soapiness of it did more bad than good for me and the flax effect, whatever it may be, is so subtle that it cannot alter the overall impression of having "just another Belgian blonde"...

Fles 33cl thuis. Droog, fruitig, licht zuurtje, bitters, licht kruidig, Belgisch gist. (17-12-2021).

Bottled 330ml (AIH147)
Golden/pale amber colour, small steady white head. Aroma has some fruits and yeast. Light-bodied. Crisp. Some spicey Belgian yeastyness and fruits. Quite boring although flavour is ok.

Pale blond colour with thin head. Has some floral notes and is a little fruity hop. Not bad.

Fles 33cl thuis. Bittertonen, zoeten, Belgisch gist, vlas, grassig, licht droog, matig kruidig, witte peper?, licht scherp, bloemig, fruitje. (31-10-2021).

8/VIII/21 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 27/V/22 (2021-745)

Clear blond gold beer, big creamy white head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: bit floral, grains, malty, spicy, peppery touch, yeasty. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet, banana, spicy, yeast, malty, grains, bit floral. Aftertaste: little bitter, spicy, grains, floral.