Draught Good white head over clear lightly copperish golden beer. Sugary nose, persil, restsugars' jumble, alcohol. Alcohol, scorched sugar, pale malts, with a metallic bitter finish. Boozy, but empty. Typical Huyghe product. Bèh.

Bottle 33 cl. Golden, slightly hazy, white foam. Aroma: slightly sour, flowers, herbs, alcoholic, pear, slightly spicy. Lively carbonated taste, slightly sour, slightly Soviet champagne, spicy, warming, not bad.

Redelijke co2, gistig, moah

Bottle at home pre-ZZT 2024. Clear golden color, fizzy bubbly white head. Aroma and flavor are malts, lightly metallic, lightly blossomy, solid bitter finish. 7-7-7-7-7,5

Õlle on selline jook, et iga uus kord kui klaasi või pudeli suule tõstad, siis leiad midagi uut, sõltuvalt tuhandest-miljonist pisiasjast, mis hetke olukorda mõjutavad. Seega piirdun iga õlle juures selle tekstiga.

The ordinary blonde by Stadsbrouwerij Artevelde, a subsidiary of Huyghe housed in a mansion dating back to 1782, located right across the town hall of Ghent. I visited this place when it was not even an operational brewery yet, but today it should be in full operation and I assume this sample was actually brewed 'in situ' - time to visit it again and find out, perhaps. Bottle from the AD Delhaize supermarket near Zwijnaarde (next to the Media Market). Bit irregular but densely knit, snow white, cobweb-lacing, fine-bubbled and stable head on a misty straw blonde beer with yellowish tinge and a steady column of sparkling rising up in the middle. Aroma of soap and coriander seed to a very high extent, thyme, halfripe banana, raw turnip, grass, minerals, unripe peach, limestone, clove, raw white cabbage, celery, freshly cut green pear. Spritzy onset with dominantly numbing (over)carbonation even for this style, very minerally (like artificially carbonated bottled water), almost obliterating the fruitiness of green pear, green apple and halfripe banana, restrained in sweetness in spite of a background peachy touch; slick mouthfeel, cereally maltiness with a sharper grainy edge and little else, increasingly spiced with soapy coriander seed and hints of clove and thyme, until a dull but admittedly effective grassy hop bitter note shows up, pairing with the residual 'green' fruity aspects and whatever thin strings of cerealliness are left at this stage. Ends a tad more sweet (and green pear-like) than it begins, oddly; worse, though, is that at this modest ABV, they did not even manage to completely hide the alcohol, as a 'jenever'-like astringency is to be felt, albeit in the background - a very big minus for me in this category. I am all for 'Gentse leute' (fun in Ghent) and living in this wonderful city with its dense history, I can personally testify that a lot of 'leute' is to be had here, but this beer does quite the opposite: it feels like a watered down version of Delirium Tremens (at its dullest - as quality tends to vary somewhat even today), only serving those who seek to have a quick 'pilsje' at the premises of the brewery and marvel at the town hall in all its medieval and renaissance glory (depending on which part you are looking at). This is technically not a 'pilsje' of course, but this kind of bland Belgian blonde ales have acted as replacements for it since at least the sixties so the 'pilsjesdrinker' clearly is the consumer type envisioned here - even though I hasten to add that this brewery actually has a 'pilsje' as well and this beer is probably made a bit stronger and spiced to avoid competition with that. Not very motivating to visit that place again but who knows, they may have some limited specialty beer by now which is worthwile after all...

Bottle at home shared with Laura. Lightly hazy yellow color, full sized foamy white head. Aroma and flavor are malts, a little yeasty, decently bitter. Good body and suitable moderately carbonated. Not bad at all.