Bottle from Delhaize Brugge consumed this at home Sunday 1st March 2015 Pours light amber with a sticky white head of foam. Aroma is brett but not too much, there is also a little fruit. Bretty and fruit with a light woody edge, it’s a little bit funky, It’s okay but I don’t think it is quite as good as the American Oak version. A6 A4 T6 P3 Ov12 3.1

Bottle from Delhaize Brugge consumed this at home Sunday 22nd February 2015 Pours golden dark gold edging towards amber with a white sticky head atop. Aroma is bretty with a fruitiness also, the fruit is mostly citrus, lemony I guess. In the mouth this follows a simily trajectory i.e. bretty but then fruity with a woody edge, the woodiness not as prominent as I had expected. Certainly a little funky and with some vanilla, it’s fine. A6 A4 T6 P3 Ov13 3.2

My third beer in this commissioned series, bottle from Delhaize. At half a year of age, I reckon the hoppiness of it - if this is sincerely an IPA - has faded a bit by now, but let’s give this a go anyway. Pours a misty, deep golden blonde under a thick and frothy, retaining and thickly lacing, egg-white head. Aroma indeed forwards a lot of citrussy hoppiness as well as estery fruitiness; impressions include fresh mandarin, orange peel, fresh pineapple, honey, sweet white wine, white bread, freshly cut celery, powder sugar, soap, red apple peel, hint of lemon zest, caramel, raw steak, grass, earth. Vividly fruity onset, lots of ’Belgian’ esters but in a quite refined kind of way, pineapple, peach, starfruit and gooseberry, strong and minerally carbonation, sourish hint, leading to a bready, caramelly, bit honeyish and slightly nutty malt phase with lots of spicy yeastiness and a hint of remaining peachy sweetness, after which the hops set in, leafy, earthy, peppery and a tad citrussy, long and bittering, establishing a finish long and dry enough to indeed evoke ’true IPA’, albeit it in a still rather restrained kind of way (I guess the aim is not to shock the masses with a ’biting’ hoppiness we all know and love from the Americans); minerals, something ’juicy’ (probably from the dying yeast), a hint of ’jonge jenever’-like alcohol but fortunately subtle (in contrast to Ben’s Strong Blond), and a slick, light maltiness accompany this hop bitter ending. I hate to admit it as I’m not a big fan of Ben Vinken’s overly commercial approach to beer culture, but this is so far the best of these "Ben’s" beers from Delhaize - I have yet to taste the tripel, though. In all: a ’real’ but very Belgian IPA indeed, a bit tripel-like with an unmistakable ’Belgian’ yeastiness, but credible and well crafted. I still don’t buy the fancy ice bucket crap written on the label, however.

*Old rating, best before 03.07.09. Frisch-rauher, leicht alkoholischer Grundton. Mild weiche gelbe Früchte auf rauhem Körper, Leicht herb-metallisch, leicht unrund.

*Old rating, best before 17/06/09. Frisch-malziges, süffiges Bier. Nicht zu tief, leicht karamellig-süßlich mit einem Hauch dunkler Früchte.

Bottle 750ml. corked. [ As Brett on Wood - American Oak (Delhaize) ].Clear medium orange yellow color with a average to large, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, pale malt, leather, wood, oak, grapes - sweet grapes, light caramel. Flavour is moderate sweet, light light acidic and light to moderate bitter with a long duration, tart, orange, wood - funky, sweet citrus - orange. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft to lively. [20141227]

Bottle 750ml. corked. [ As Brett on Wood - Hungarian Oak (Delhaize) ].Clear medium amber orange color with a large - huge, frothy - creamy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, pale malt, caramel, grass - leather, brett, bubble gum, wood, sweet malt notes. Flavour is moderate sweet, light acidic and bitter with a long duration, brett, pale malt, sweet malt, fruity, wood. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20141227]

The Christmas ale in this commissioned series, and though it is apparently claimed that this is brewed to an original recipe, it was just an alias of Affligem Noël when it was first launched in 2003. Bronze coloured beer with off-white, thick and frothy head, sweetish with spicy notes (coriander), caramelly malts, sourish accent, candi syrup touch, some warming alcohol in the finish. Easily the best of the Florivals - but still not convinced this is an original recipe nowadays!

The tripel in this commissioned abbey beer series, since 1994 and originally the same beer as Affligem Tripel; I think it deserves investigation to find out if this is still the case today or not. Anyway, revisited today for the sake of finding this out, but I stupidly forgot to put an Affligem Tripel next to it so I still can’t be sure. Pours a clear ’old gold’ colour with low fizz under a lacing, snow white, medium thick, moussy head. Aroma does not invite me to have a sip: tons of iron probably hailing from foam stabilizing agents, caramel syrup, cooked corn, cookie dough, sweaty grains, cooked cauliflower, melting plastic, badly hidden, wodka-like alcohol and honeyish cane sugar - this is so low in ’esteriness’ that I take the liberty to doubt whether this is even top-fermented (a remark I made with Affligem Tripel already some months ago)! Sugary sweet onset, honeyish and even a bit sticky, pineapple and banana but in an artificial kind of way, medium carbo; metallic middle phase, low and thin in maltiness but something caramelly comes up, phenolic finish with lingering sugary sweetness and lingering iron, next to warming, old ’jenever’-like alcohol and a touch of earthy and grassy hop bitterishness, though insufficient to counter the initial sweetness. An artificial, iron-laden and overly sweet concoction, clearly made the cheapest way, including malt adjuncts. Not acceptable as a tripel and to add insult to injury, I remain convinced this is an alias of Affligem Tripel, which has suffered as much from its restyling as this one has. I have a lot of sympathy for this style, but it has been hollowed out by either amateur failures or industrialized, chemical clones like this. Do not buy this, no matter how much you’re into tripels. Used to be better a decade ago - when it was already an alias of Affligem Tripel - but apparently making it cheaper in production has gained Delhaize more profits. Conclusion: this is exactly the same as Affligem Tripel, with exactly the same history (which nobody else cares about, probably)...

Abbey beer for the Delhaize supermarkets since 1994 and originally an alias of Affligem Dubbel, but since I’m not sure this is still the case today, I’ll rate it anyway. Tasted many years ago from a 75 cl bottle. Dark brown beer with medium, off-white head and malty, bready and fruity taste, sweetish with a sourish touch, hint of iron, medium carbo, bitterish, herbally hoppy finish. Average.