Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Hazy blond colour, creamy foam. Nose of weed, grass, some banana, citrus, bitterness. Unbalanced.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Sample at Zythos 2022, orange beer, small head. Aroma is malt, sweet, apple, fruit. Taste is the same, apple, fruit, malt, caramel, light bitter, not bad.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed 1125 Vlierbeek Grand Cru from Broeder Jacob 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5
‘Abbey tripel’ by Broeder Jacob fermented with a “special yeast”, though it remains undisclosed which one – a missed opportunity, or either the yeast is not so special at all… Snow white, medium thick, moussy, slowly breaking head, misty orange-tinged deep golden beer, peachy with sediment. Aroma of ripe banana, mugwort leaves, honey, spice bread, dandelion, dough, moist white pepper, apple peel, peach, dried thyme. Fruity, sweet onset, banana, apricot and pear, medium carbonated; full, rounded white-bready malt sweetness with a layer of honeyish residual sugars on top but avoiding to become too sweet, especially in the finish, where a long, quite spicy hop bitterness is established, more so than in most other ‘broad-audience tripels’ in Belgium. Spicy thyme- and clove-like phenols appear too, along with a warming afterglow of ‘jenever’-like alcohol, while the sweet fruitiness from the onset pierces through the hops. Spicy, relatively hop bitter, well-balanced and solidly constructed tripel, not really adding anything ‘special’ to the genre though – so it seems to me the mysterious yeast used here is a pretty standard trappist or abbey ale yeast… Maybe they got yeast from a trappist brewery, explaining why they would not disclose its identity, but even then this choice would be one of the most obvious ones for this beer style, would it not?
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Tap at In Den Rozenkrans, Leuven. My first blonde of my month Belgium. Hooray. And a good one to kick it all off. Really nice sweet aroma. Golden. Classic blonde flavour and a boozey bitter ending. Quite heavy on the bannana. All round enjoyable really.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Flesje thuis gedronken. Amberkleurig bier met een volle schuimkraag die als een film blijft liggen. Alcohol / armagnac achtige geur. De smaak is moutig en zoetig. Nasmaak is fruitig en licht hoppig.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Lazarus Rum Infused (2019) from Broeder Jacob 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
One of many liquor-infused Lazarus beers by Broeder Jacob, bottle from the Carrefour hypermarket of Oostakker near Ghent. Thick, yellowish egg-white, foamy and frothy, papery lacing head, clear and warm ‘old golden’ robe with lively carbonation, lightly misty with sediment. Aroma of dried banana slices, indeed (white) rum but not overly strong, old bread crust, iron shavings, straw, wet oak chips, old cardboard, unripe peach, apple peel, honey, sugar loaf. Sweet onset, red apple, peach and banana, but nothing cloying; lively carbonation, medium full mouthfeel. Cereally and somewhat bread-crusty pale maltiness, bready with a slight metallic edge and a thin line of honeyish sweetness on top – in all, less sweet than expected based on the nose, but doubtlessly this is due to the added rum. This rum effect becomes clear in the finish (old coconut flakes), also in the form of a warming, eventually somewhat astringent booziness, but not before some oakiness and soft floral hops have passed by. In this particular segment, quite an accessible Belgian, with the rum actually better integrated than I was fearing; not drowning in rum, but in a subtle way it creates a ‘sweet and boozy tripel’ effect while this beer is actually less sweet than it seems. Better than expected – especially for a ‘supermarket beer’, so to speak…
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
One of many liquor-infused variants of Broeder Jacob's standard tripel, in this case infused with bourbon as well as flavoured with toasted oak flakes; launched years ago but still produced so I guess the "2019" given above can be deleted. Vichy bottle from the Carrefour hypermarket in Oostakker. Foamy, initially inches thick and hard-to-pour, audibly crackling, egg-white, paper-lacing, pillowy head lasting for a long time on a hazy, orange-hued peach blonde beer. Aroma of ripe banana, sweet bourbon, honey, cake dough, freshly toasted bread, freshly cut apple, grass, dry cookies, 'jenever', cloves, dust. Sweet, fruity onset, banana ester mingled with ripe pear and a vague dash of pineapple, very lively and minerally carbonation (a bit too much on the sharp side even), subtle sourish undertone mostly from that (over)carbonation; supple body, cereally and lightly bready maltiness but also sugar-driven, with a slight toasty aspect indeed from those toasted oak flakes, adding a bit of mild bitterishness, which is eventually accentuated by a grassy hoppiness. Meanwhile the bourbon unveils itself, in the form of a sweet and very slightly astringent booziness - subtle enough not to dominate too much as is often the case with liquor-infused blonde ales, but at the same a bit too subtle to be immediately recognizable as bourbon; this booziness, as usual in infusions, bothered me a bit and does not increase the elegance nor the complexity. A light dusty aspect lingers a bit, but alcohol (and, admittedly, banana ester and hops) gets the last word here. Acceptable for what it is, but still a tad too crude for me even with the bourbon behaving relatively decently - I guess these infusions, usually being a cheaper alternative for actual barrel ageing, will never end up in my top drawer, to quote a Flemish expression.
nathanvc (6963) reviewed Tripel / Triple from Broeder Jacob 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
27 September 2021. At Cambrinus, Bruges. Cheers to Anke & my birthday!
Hazy ochre, stable, foamy, off-white head. Aroma of banana, ripe apple, thyme, vague coriander, wheat, dough, honey, jenever. Taste has sweet banana, apple & pear over honey-doughy maltiness with spicy phenols & soapy coriander. Floral hoppy finish, spicy, ripe yellow fruits and warming jenever-like alcohol. Medium body, slick texture, fizzy carbonation. Decent enough Tripel, but Broeder Jacob has better editions than this.
SVD (7137) reviewed 1125 Vlierbeek Grand Cru from Broeder Jacob 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Bottle at home, golden beer, small head. Aroma is yeast, floral, some peppery. Taste is the same, bitter, light sweet, herbal, peppery and yeast. some alcohol. not bad.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Bottle at home. Amber color, full sized white to off-white head that lasts for a long time. Aroma and flavor are malts, wood-ish bitter, green apple peel. A bit odd. No depth, just superficial flavors and not very complex tbh. Meh. Disappointing.