6.6/10
—
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.
Tried
on 16 Nov 2024
at 00:26