Slightly amended version of the regular Louis XVIII by Wilde Brouwers in Merelbeke near Ghent, only in 75 cl bottles with paper wrap, launched for the winter of 2019-2020. Bottle from De Hopduvel, now a year old. Snow white, thick and frothy, cobweb-lacing, stable head on an initially more or less clear, warm and deep orange-hued peach blonde beer with a thin 'suspension' of yeast, perturbed by enthusiastic sparkling; shifts to a cloudy to even murky 'dirty amber' with sediment. Aroma of ripe peach, dried orange peel, banana, chewing gum, dry hay, 'herbes de Provençe', white bread dough, honey, carrot peel, green mandarins, cloves, touch of melon. Sweetish onset with light sourish edge, fruity and 'cleanly' estery with notes of peach, banana and freshly cut red apples, strongly carbonated with very minerally, initially even somewhat numbing effect, but acceptable for the style. Sweetish, caramelly and very lightly peanutty maltiness with residual honeyish sweetness on top, towards a mildly phenolic, bit earthy-yeasty finish with spicy notes (clove, dried rosemary, some dried citrus peel - and a soapy coriander accent), lingering breadiness and floral hop bitterness. Very classically styled Belgian blonde, I must say that I was expecting much more from a 'Grand Cru' version of the regular Louis XVIII - this clearly shows that this old term, which the Belgian family brewers originally borrowed from French wine culture, has no 'real' content at all and is a purely commercial thing, like the 'premium' in premium lager. Still, technically well made, and indeed feeling a bit maltier, 'fuller', spicier and hoppier than the regular, so in that sense this Grand Cru edition is still a light improvement.

Dark brown colour, beige foam. Caramel, some tartness, weak and watery, unbalanced. Not very nice.

Bottle from a gift box. Pours clear golden with an unstable, frothy, white head; hazy with the sediment. Aroma of unripe pear, apple peel, moist bread dough, yeast, flowers, hay, cabbage. Taste has sweetish pear, apple, a bit flowery; thick bready-yeasty profile supporting sour wheat accents and a soft earthy bitterness. Not too dry, wheaty, soft fruity finish, gentle grassy hops, lingering 'earthy' yeast. Medium body, slick texture, lively carbonation. Another typical earthy-yeasty brew by Wilde Brouwers, this time more drinkable than any other I've had.

Imported from untappd on 02-05-2020

One of several experiments in the sour ale field by the Wilde Brouwers just outside of Ghent, paper-wrapped 75 cl bottle from Geers. Extremely violent gusher - lost 1/3 to the sink, sigh... Egg-white, mousy, tiny-bubbled, slowly thinning and breaking head lacing in dots over a clouded orangey peach blonde beer with ochre tinge. Aroma of lemon butter, white yoghurt, kefir, green grapes, old dishwater, melting abbey cheese, damp straw, some rotting pears, margarine, dusty old cotton blanket, old potatoes, fresh sorrel leaves, grass. Tart onset, fruity notes of plum, pineapple and light white grape, very lactic in a yoghurt- or kefir-like way, softish carb, soft white bread pulp-like malt body, cereally with a thin caramelly edge; lactic sourness stretches through the whole in a rather soft, monotonous way, leading straight to a drying finish with light woody tannins, green apple- and grape-like fruitiness enhanced by the wine element and some dusty, chalky and cheesy aspects, as well as some rather annoying soapiness. Needs finetuning, still rather crude and straightforward in this form and the gushing is obviously a big problem, but it admittedly there is a lot of potential here to become more appealing and that deserves an extra encouraging point.

One of several new Wild Specials by this brewery in Merelbeke near Ghent. From a 75 cl bottle with paper wrap, actually labelled n° 5, but this seems to be merely a different bottling of the same thing (a Flemish red of 7% ABV aged on Bordeaux wine barrels), so I reckoned I could just as well put my rating here; I do think it would be interesting to list them both here and alias them, however, but I'll leave that to the admins. Gusher and quite strongly so. Thinnish, egg-white, mousy ring for a head along with flat 'islands' in the middle, eventually dissolving completely; cloudy amber-tinged bronze-brown robe. Aroma of sour grapes, medlar, sour apples, bread crumbs, redcurrant, red wine vinegar, moist wood, something sulfuric (egg yolk). Estery, indeed 'wild' onset (sic), bit dirty even, with impressions of sharply sour blackberries and redcurrant, medlar and wild apples, fizzily carbonated with very limited sweetness; brown-bready malt base, a tad caramelly and doughy, dried almost completely by sharp lactic sourness, though the 'vinegar sting' I feared for, remains relatively restrained. Some sulfuric and glueish solventy notes towards the end along with ongoing sharp fruity sourness and yeasty earthiness, the first accentuated by a tannic wood effect, though in all, the wood and the Bordeaux remain subordinate to the estery and lactic bacterial effects this beer is impregnated by. A late, earthy hop bitter note shows up at the back too. Not a bad effort at all, all things considered, but lacking a bit in body (ending just a bit too watery), refinement and balance for what is arguably a very difficult style to create; but if this is a first attempt, this series could turn out very promising, provided that it is continued and further finetuned. Curious for the others in this whole series.

Towering amberish-cream coloured head over fully hazy redbrown beer. Green leaves, caramel, parsley, bread (surprise, surprise!), yeast features. Bitterish flavour on top of sweetish lightly roasted malts, and a nice sourish lining (no doubt the sourdough). Bread, non-sweet caramel and again green herbs and leaves. Very slick, pap-like consistency, good carbonation, lasting flavours. Aha! This one is very nice, progress at work?