6.1

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

75cl bottle from Carrefour as 1128 Brut Bier. Misty yellow pour with a short-lived white head. Gentle floral nose, some nelson sauvin hop notes. Certainly quite dry as befits the Brut tag. Tastes a little empty on the palate though welcome distant, slightly faint, Nelson Sauvin notes waft through. Never understood the appeal of brut beers and this does little to sway me.

7

Bottle, 75cl. Straight forward, nothing particular going on. Dark dried fruit, caramel, yeast and a wee smoke hint. Decent. A bit young perhaps. 747413 250530

6.4

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

75 cl bottle picked up at a Netto discounter poured into a Trappist glass. Slightly hazy dark mahogany colour with with a thin, white head. Sweet aroma with caramel malts, prunes, nuts, resin, and a slightly vinous note. The taste is sweet. Full body. Slightly drying sweet finish. Lacks complexity compared to the best Belgian quadruples, still good value for money, trough.

7.8

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

Bottle. Pours nearly clear copper brown with airy off-white head. Clear aroma of malt, caramel, and yeast, with notes of dried fruit. Sweetish flavour of malt and fruit, with notes of yeast, and bitter, hoppy touches. Bitter and malty aftertaste with estery touches. Warming alcohol presence. Decent.

7.1

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Dark amber colour with no head.Aroma is sweet with flavour of dark dried fruit and caramel not of prunes and figs nice warming and well balanced beer smooth warming finish.

5.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Small off-white head over clear reddish copper beer, well-carbonated. Bit perfumed, rosewater, faint citrus(leaf), dried old spices... dare I say Old Spice? Nondescript & toasted malts, and bouillon - chicken stock, wet bread, childrens' "tea", leaves, boiled almonds. Medium bodied at least. Seemed better carbonated visually; quite slick. Poor guys tried to make Grimbergen, instead of beer. Txs to Stef!

6.6

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

The result of a homebrewing contest organised by the new Grimbergen microbrewery, located within the abbey of Grimbergen itself and not to be confused with the Grimbergen abbey beer brand, which of course still has a connection to the abbey as well but is now owned by Carlsberg (yet licensed to Heineken, which still makes the beers for the Belgian market in Belgium, more precisely in the Alken brewery of Heineken-owned Alken-Maes - talk about needlessly complicating things...). The winners of the abovementioned contest, the brothers Camps from Bertem in Flemish Brabant, created this 'spicy blonde beer' which is now available in 75 cl crown-capped bottles in beer stores throughout Belgium. Thick and frothy, egg-white, cobweb-lacing, moussey and stable head on an initially clear, pale 'metallic' orange-glowing old-golden robe with thin but lively strings of sparkling running upwards from the bottom of the glass; shifts to a misty golden to peachy orange with sediment. Not very appealing aroma of damp straw, fodder beet, cooked turnip, coriander seed, raw carrots, chicken 'bouillon', withering grass, rubber, old dried orange peel, green pear, unripe green hard peach, iron, white pepper, dust, freshly cut sow thistle, houseplant leaves, cold fried egg. Crisp onset due to very active, even somewhat stingy carbonation, adding a lot of minerality to an otherwise fairly dull onset, displaying some light fruitiness of unripe peach, green pear and raw cucumber, with much less sweetness than expected - never thought I would ever say this, but this could do with a whiff of banana ester... Slight sourishness underneath also established by the carbonation, moving on to a slick, rounded body of cereally pale malts, adding a bit more sweetishness but remaining very straightforward and simple. Nearly astringent green fruit effects await in the finish, but these are probably more connected to the 'spicy' element, which evokes coriander seed and dried citrus peel but not too convincingly so - so I expect something else went in here as well, but what? It feels a bit 'green' and wry, in any case, seemingly adding more bitterness than the hops, which fortunately appear in the end to mitigate things a bit and bring a grassy, leafy bitterness that lasts somewhat. Still, this annoying wry-green herbal thing (could be raw hogweed or tannin-rich oak leaves for all I know) pierces through, disturbing the balance in the weak force this beer conveys. Accents of unripe green fruit and grainy pale malts linger on (as well as a hint of warming gin-like alcohol), but obviously these cannot do much to save the day. This Grimbergen abbey is apparently trying to tell me that out of a few hundred contestants, this was the best entry... I am flabbergastered at that, but it says a lot about Grimbergen's standards (even ignoring the 'big' Grimbergen brand having become even bigger in Carlsberg's clutches) - and perhaps also about their beer quality judging skills. This is more bland, unbalanced and even slightly unpleasant than I was expecting. I think these Camps brothers have a lot to learn and strongly recommend them to remain in the hobby brewing circuit as long as they believe a brew like this is a winner, no matter what Carlsberg-owned Grimbergen says. I never liked the Grimbergen beers in general anyway - the only bright spot I can remember from thirty-five years of regular beer drinking with regard to this brand, is an aged Grimbergen Optimo Bruno a quarter of a century ago, but everything else I had throughout the years that had this name on it, downright sucked (excusez le mot); even the 'new' brews by the microbrewery inside the abbey - still under Carlsberg, mind you - failed to convince me. This, in comparison, is maybe a bit more bearable, but still well below my (low!) expectations, so I think this is a suitable occasion to give up on it altogether and never have another Grimbergen again, special "cuvée" or not. Life is just too short.

5.9

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

9/XI/24 - 75cl bottle from Colruyt (Lochristi), shared @ Efteling huisje, BB: VI/2025 (2024-1198)

Clear orange beer, small creamy off-white to yellowish head, a little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: very yeasty, lots of banana, spicy, sweet impression, malty, grains, a bit oxidized, some honey. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: very yeasty, lots of ripe banana, some banana peel, spicy, coriander touch, almonds, sweet impression, a bit malty, fruity touch. Aftertaste: banana, ripe apples, more yeast, banana peel, a bit sweet, malty, grains, pretty boring, no surprises there though…

6.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

75cl bottle from Colruyt Schaarbeek in Brussels. F: medium, egg-white, average retention. C: deep gold, hazy. A: malty, orange peels, banana, apples, spicy, biscuits. T: full malty base, banana, apples, bready, bit caramel, spicy, nice balanced bitterness, medium carbonation, more on the sweet side yet enjoyable beer.

6.6

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

75 cl bottle, labeles as the brand 1128 Grimbergen, Brut Bier as what seems to be the marketing for the 75 cl's.
Pours a hazed strawyellow light blonde. Medium to medium small (especially for a brut beer) white head. Scent is strong on the BE yeast (banana) and malt, yet with a slightly more hopped than average base perhaps. Taste is dry and sharp, with high carbonation as it enters the palate. Nelson sauvin provides great aspect here, resemblind a grape like fruityness. Unfortunately, it doesnt work all to well for me in combo with the BE yeast (banana) , and there's also noticable amounts of orange somehow . Feels very estery. Malty base isn't lost, but truth be told the totallity of the beer is a bit of a mess slightly sweet finish, oily estery mouthfeel that doesnt greatly resemble the whole idea of being Brut in champagne / sparkling wine terms. Not a big fan, but at least the nelson was a positive idea to me. A better suited basebeer would help, though.