Bellevaux's lager, or rather a somewhat unclear group of lagers, because it has been around for years now and earlier versions explicitly mentioned various hop varieties on their label (originally Mosaic, later Fuggles); this is no longer the case today, but I have a suspicion that it is still Fuggles which is being used for this dry-hopping. Very thick and rocky, pillowy, snow white, cobweb-lacing, stable head, misty warm apricot blonde robe with pale beige tinge - 'deeper' than usual for a pale lager and certainly not 'clear' as the brewery describes it. Aroma of old straw bales, old herbarium, unripe apricot, green pear peel, dust, dried radish, old bread crust, field flowers and a light sweaty touch. Some unripe fruit in the onset, restrained but still faintly estery, hinting at green pear and unripe peach, remaining very subdued in sweetness; vague sourish edge, fine-bubbled yet very active carbonation through a very soft, fluffy white-bready core, remaining dry and eventually bittered by strong floral hops, long-stretched, earthy and spicy but nowhere too harshly or astringently bitter. An element of bready yeastiness lingers too - adding a bit of perhaps unwanted complexity, as I can imagine the brewery intended this one to be cleaner and more focused on pure malts and hops; in fact I seriously doubt this is technically a real lager: this is, much more likely, a top-fermented blonde stripped of all the usual ornaments in order to resemble a pale lager as closely as possible - there are more cases like this today in Belgium, probably at least partially as a kind of 'aftereffect' of the craft beer movement returning to everyday business in a time when demand for more exuberant craft beers has began to dwindle.

Bottle from Beerdome. Almost clear dark golden with a white head. Aroma is sweet, malty, fruity and yeasty. Flavor is quite sweet and moderate bitter. Dry and moderate bitter finish. 040925

A slightly hazy golden beer with a white lacing. Aroma of sweet citrus, tea, grainy malt. Taste of citrusy hops, tea grains, easy to drink.

Getreidiger Beginn. Weiche Bitterkeit, etwas grasig hopfig, wässriger Körper, trinkbar. 9/7/8/7/7/7

Süffiger, hell hefig-herber Beginn. Trocken, leicht bitter, bananig, hefig. Herb-hefig, kurzer Abgang, ok. 8/7/8/7/9/7

Cremiger, süßer und leicht vanilliger Beginn. Wenig herb, alkoholische Noten, wenig Schokolade und Beeren. Süffig, Karamell, langer Abgang, ok. 9/9/9/9/11/9