Mild hefiger, trocken herber Beginn. Geringe Süße, dabei hefig bleibend, geringfügig bitter, Nuancen von Kräutern. Rund, gefällig. 9/8/9/10/7/9

Old-timey brown 'tafelbier' produced for an old-timey drinks shop in Roeselare; the history of this Piro brand goes back to the early 20th century when these Belgian table beers were still a big thing volume-wise, and I recall having read about it in my early days of beer studying on some long defunct OBP website but never actually encountered it - so I was curious enough to taste it when it was offered to me jokingly on Proevertjesdag. Thick and foamy, coarse, lacing, pale yellowish beige head on a clear (filtered) very dark caramel brown robe with ruby red glow. Aroma of a typical oldskool tafelbier: homemade cola, industrial caramel and caramel candy, wet nutmeg, used tea bags, moist brown paper, lots of aspartame, iron. Sweet, onedimensional onset, no esters, bit metallic but notably less so than e.g. the Piedboeuf range (the only one in tafelbier still sounding familiar to most Belgians), actively carbonated, smooth mouthfeel (light of course but still a little bit 'fuller' than average for this ABV for some reason). Caramel candy-ish middle with a very vaguely nutty aspect, not as sweet and sugary as I was fearing actually (and indeed less sugary than the average 'bruin tafelbier'), developing a mild bitterness in the end which probably comes more from an aspartame-like sweetening agent beginning to act 'chemically' than from hops. Something metallic 'zings' along. Utterly old-fashioned, it even surprised me that this brand, now under Strubbe, is even still brewed to this day, but as usual these local table beers are, well, very local, if they are still around in the first place. I always find it interesting to stumble upon something 'historical' like this - look at how outdated the label is, as if it has not changed since labels became officially mandatory in Belgium, and that is probably not far from the truth. Very oldskool, something from another era, and in comparison with the AB InBev version of Belgian table beer known nationally as Piedboeuf, feeling a bit more natural, a bit less sweet and a bit less metallic; within the obvious limitations of its style, this is far from the worst.

330ml bottle from DB Supermarket, Beernem. Pours a erupting dark brown with a mega white foamy head. Aromas & tastes of caramel, brown sugar, plums, spice & malt. Medium body. Malty finish.

Fles 33cl thuis. Malten, grassig, steenfruit, Belgisch gist, banaan, wat kruidig. (2-6-2026).

Bottle, 7.8%. Malty aroma, metal, dark bread, dark sugar. Almost clear dark copper colour. Big stable rocky off-white head. The flavour is dry and slightly metallic with a touch of acid. Quite disappointing. Could have done with a little residual sugar.

bottiglia 33 cl, bel cappello di schiuma bianca pannosa persistente, color giallo pallido velato, al naso lieviti belgi spezie succo di pera pesca sciroppata luppoli, in bocca pesche sciroppate pera malto pane bianco spezie pepe note erbacee, corpo leggere, watery, carbonatazione forte, amaro erbaceo accentuato lungo nel finale, astringente, bella secca super attenuata. Una Tripel leggerina ma ben fatta. Molto molto buona c. Birraland.it 24.04.26