Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6
Even Rubbens, long known for jenever but only fairly recently for beer, has succumbed to the nablab hype sweeping the western world today - other than the traditional lambic breweries (for the time being at least), it becomes increasingly hard to think of a Belgian brewery of any size or ilk that does not have an alcohol-free or low-alcohol beer in its range today... I am beginning to wonder what a non-alcoholic Rochefort would taste like, but thank God at least some breweries remain immune to this trend so far. Steinie bottle from the Delhaize supermarket in Lokeren - near Zele, where the Rubbens story once began. Snow white, cobweb-lacing, medium sized, quite regular, moussey and stable head on a hazed pale apricot blonde robe with vaguely ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of Graham crackers and dry bread crust, rusk even, old dried lemon peel, old biscuit, green banana, very vague orange zest, raw turnip, coriander seed, jute rope, Thai green curry soup faraway in the background, vague touch of chalk. Sweetish onset though nowhere near sugary, hints of green pear and unripe banana, lively carb but not harshly stinging, supple body - and, importantly, notably less watery than most 'oldskool' nablabs of days gone by. Bready and grainy core, slick, again vaguely sweetish without actually being sweet, leading to a mildly floral-hoppy bitterish finish where soapy and chalky flavours become ultimately more prominent than the hops, alas - taking me back to those oldskool pre-hype nablabs after all. Begins more than decent, but descends a bit into a rather uninteresting finish - but most amateurs of this kind of beers will probably prefer this over the standard non-alcoholic pale lagers, and very rightly so. For what it intends to be, a simple alcohol-free blonde without any further frills, this does not perform badly at all - in that sense following Rubbens' general house style, I would argue.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Hazy blond colour, white unstable foam. Citrussy, hoppy with lemony notes. Taste is bitter, a bit medicinal, dry finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Stable, slightly irregular fine white head, leaving some lace over well-carbonated, fully hazy orange-golden beer. Leafy, green leaves, felt, faintly (root)spicy, white candi sugar. Sweetish to sweet taste, faint salty notes as from seafood - probably DMS. Porridge, and dried apples minus the fruitsugars; spices. Medium bodied, very carbonated feel, seems high in restsugars for a sugared tripel, is relatively light in ABV. Decent without more. Txs to Eddy & Liliane!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
2/III/24 - 33cl bottle as a gift, shared @ home, BB: 24/II/25, B8G017G055 (2024-137) Thanks to Alengrin for the bottle!
Pretty clear bright red beer, small creamy white head, a little stable, a bit adhesive, leaving some lacing in the glass. Aroma: very fruity, some raspberries, malty, grains, yeasty. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: gentle acidity, fruity, some berries, nice, refreshing, a little bitter, some lactobacillus. Aftertaste: more bitterness, some watermelon, a hint of rhubarb, raspberries, nice!
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Rubbens is a well-known name in Flanders - for its 'jenever', that is, but has recently taken up brewing as well, probably after noticing the 'boom' artisanal beer has experienced in recent years; so far their brews have been very conservative and classic yet solid, so I wonder how they interpret a fruit beer made with rhubarb (not technically a fruit, I know) and sloe berries (a fruit that has been used in beer in Europe at least since medieval times) - not a self-evident choice of ingredients and not something I was expecting from them, to be honest. Steinie bottle from the Delhaize supermarket in Zele, where Rubbens' roots lie. Thick and frothy, very moussy, pillowy, egg-white head resting stably on a hazy vermillion- to salmon pink-tinged peach blonde robe. Aroma of ripe sloe berries indeed (in a credible way even), far less rhubarb but still some in a cooked and sugared way, red plum, apple peel, leftover dough, unripe banana, cooked sweet potato, damp earth, vague hints of long-stewed red onion, fried cherry tomatoes, a pinch of crumbled biscuit somewhere, old lemon zest, dust. Spritzy, very fruity onset, nothing artificial or cloying here but actual ripe sloe berry to the point where even ripe red plums spring to mind, sweet with a tart edge, the latter accentuated by the rhubarb, which seems a lot more outspoken in flavour than in aroma; side notes of green apple, purple gooseberry and vague halfripe banana, in an interesting play of sweet and sour, with sourness actually becoming just a tad more prevalent (helped by very lively, prickly carbonation). This tension between sweet and sour remains equally vivid throughout the middle, set on a stage of somewhat doughy and pleasantly bready maltiness; volatile hints of clove and orange peel pop up in the end along with something very faintly sulfuric, while a touch of leafy hops provide a nice bitter element - trying to end the battle of sweet and sour, but failing at it, so that indeed sweet-sour sloe berry and (cooked) rhubarb eventually get the last word. Well, after that ghastly Saint-Feuillien Fruit I was dreading yet another 'rouge', but this could not be further from it: this is technically an oldskool top-fermented Belgian fruit beer with no additional sweetening, just using sloe berry juice and rhubarb juice, resulting in something 'natural' and not overly sweet at all. In fact, even though juices were used, both 'guest stars' feel very genuine here and entertain with their continuous balancing between sweet and sour; other than that, the choice of combining these two is original at least, I never even encountered them together in lambics or sour ales (not from what immediately remember at least). Much better than expected, even pleasant, and strengthens my budding belief in Rubbens' qualities as a brewery. Refreshing, original, 'honest' and balanced: this is the kind of top-fermented fruit beer I can still appreciate, from time to time.
tderoeck (22711) reviewed Rubbens Blond from Stokerij - Brouwerij Rubbens 2 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
29/X/23 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 23/III/23, B1F060F082 (2023-881)
Clear orange blond beer, big aery irregular white head, little stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: malty, oranges, some orange peel, a bit oxidized, funky. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: a bit malty, orange peel, pretty bitter, a bit grassy, herbal, honey. Aftertaste: malty, a bit oxidized, orange peel, sweet, fruity, gentle bitterness, ok.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Rubbens IPA from Stokerij - Brouwerij Rubbens 2 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
One of the newer additions to this range, which seems more ambitious than I first thought. Steinie bottle from the Delhaize supermarket in Zele, which is where the Rubbens distillery, now also housing a brewery, originated. Cobweb-lacing, egg-white, thick, moussy head, misty peach-tinged golden blonde robe. Aroma of freshly grated lemon zest, fresh lemongrass, orange peel, dry cake, hay, something soapy, apricot jam, clove, pineapple juice. Sweet onset with notes of apricot, pineapple and mild banana, prickly carbonation with rounded, ‘full’ mouthfeel; dry cake- and cereal-like pale malts with a lemon-soapy element evolving into very citrusy, lime- and lemongrass-like aromatic hoppiness, which oddly shows limited complexity and feels a bit ‘artificial’ and perfumed. Still it brings drying, long bitterness too, in which clove- and grass-like accents play around. Belgian style IPA but on the cleaner side of that ‘basket case category’, essentially straightforward and simple, oddly a bit besides the point when it comes to true Anglo-Saxon IPA, but making this up with a solid basic structure (like the other Rubbens ales) and an admittedly elegant and pleasant perfumey zestiness in the nose. Better than expected – maybe I am now even willing to try that fruit beer which most recently joined this range.
Rubin77 (10187) reviewed Rubbens Blond from Stokerij - Brouwerij Rubbens 2 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
33cl bottle (23 IBU) from supermarket MAENHOUT in Oostende. F: medium, egg-white, average retention. C: gold, hazy. A: banana, apples, spicy, biscuits, coriander, lemon, honey. T: medium malty base, banana, apples, spicy, bit herbal, peach, nice balanced long lasting harmonic bitterness, medium carbonation, classic for the style, enjoyed for sure.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
Typical Belgian IPA. Bitter, dry and citrussy, a bit herbal. Ok but not the best IPA.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Hazy pinkish colour. Nose of red fruit, rhubarb. Tart, lots of rhubarb, fruity, light bitter finish. Nice surprise.