Loterbol Blond
Café-Brouwerij Loterbol

Loterbol BlondLoterbol Blond
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From:
Café-Brouwerij Loterbol
 
Belgium
Style:
Belgian Pale Strong Ale
ABV:
6.8%
Score:
86
Avg:
3.81 | pDev: 12.6%
Reviews:
49
Ratings:
57
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jun 26, 2019
Added:
Jul 26, 2003
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by horndecker:
Photo of horndecker
Reviewed by horndecker from New Jersey

4.4/5  rDev +15.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Peachy and cloudy, and a prodiguous white merengue of a head springs to life with my careful pour. Long lasting suds, humpback islands of clumpy foam.

Smells like taffy, sweet candy, limes, yeast with vegetal overtones, tangerines, the whole damn fruit basket. Later on caramel shows up.

The taste starts with sharp orange peel, acidic, a bitter medicinal hop bite, leading to round and roasted caramel malt middle. A dry finish, instensely herbal and tart. All the flavors flex their muscles. This is not subtle, but it's plenty fun.

Great firm body, not quite syrupy, plenty of fizz.

I love this strong pale. An interesting concoction. Smells sweet, tastes full and bitter, with more apparent malt than most, lots of character, different than it's brothers and cousins.
Sep 09, 2005
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.79 by HopBelT from Belgium

Jun 26, 2019
Photo of OlaB
Reviewed by OlaB from Norway

3.82/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Pours a hazy golden color with a medium top of white head that dissolves quickly.
Aroma is of peaches, pears, bread , caramel, honey, spices and floral hops.
The taste is sweet and fruity with malty bready notes in the back at the start, it then goes to quite bitter in the finish with some floral and citric notes, and leaves a good lenght in the aftetaste.
Mouthfeel is oily and creamy with a medium carbonation and a medium body.
An interesting belgian ale to try, and quite good and enjoyable.
Apr 26, 2019
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

4.06/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
I am delving into my Beerfigerator, filled with (mainly) bottles that I bought a while back, put in there & then made the move from my parents' house to Chez Woody in late-2008/early-2009 with them. It is pretty cool to have them finally surfacing.

From the bottle: "Beer refermented in the bottle."

I Pop!ped the cap, but just as with the other golden oldies from yesterday, I could only bring myself to do a slow, gentle pour. Once decanted, I performed an in-glass swirl to raise just over a finger of dense, foamy, bone-white head with moderate retention. Color was solid Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9) with NE-quality clarity. Nose had a strong fusel alcohol heat, underlain with scents of mown grass, sweet orange peel, caramel & a light earthiness. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but very dense on my tongue & in my mouth. The taste was very earthy, very obvious that the yeast had been quite busy during the wait. It had the earthy mustiness that many Belgian beers do, along with a bubble gum-like sweetness and an orangey bitterness. I was pleasantly surprised by just how well it had both held up & aged. Finish was dry, again thanks to the action of the yeast, but I was left with a caramel-orange taste like the Brach's caramels of my youth. Definitely worth trying!
Oct 24, 2017
 
Rated: 3.54 by desint from Belgium

Oct 22, 2017
Photo of Beginner2
Reviewed by Beginner2 from Illinois

4.03/5  rDev +5.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
I've read several of the top reviewers and their range is bigger than normal... even for opinionated people. Almost hard to believe they've had the same beer... so maybe Loterbol has a quality control issue getting across the pond over the past decade. This also is not the BSPA I thought I had three years ago. So I've increased my rating and offer this summary: Loterbol's Blond may have a champion yeast that is hard to tame.

Since my second glass from the bottle Looks considerably murkier than the first, I gotta say I've seen better blonds.
But it will take lots of work to find one whose Smells are as inviting and, frankly, so skillfully conceals a full 8% (on the label.)
The Tastes are largely the same yeasty, fruity WOW, but then the hops balance my buds and I conclude I've got a great ale. Unfortunately after sitting in the mouth, Feel finally tells me there is more alcohol here... so much so that I think it interfered with a simple meal. Less good Overall.

MJ's "Great Beers of Belgium" told the brewery's interesting story... by unusual, he didn't review the blond.
May 07, 2016
Photo of cyrushire
Rated by cyrushire from Florida

2.79/5  rDev -26.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75
Murky appearance. Smells like playdoh and tastes of belgian yeast and alcohol heat. Not the most enjoyable beer I've tried.
Jun 06, 2015
 
Rated: 4.5 by enelson from Illinois

May 10, 2015
 
Rated: 4.25 by afsdan from Colorado

Apr 23, 2014
Photo of jazzyjeff13
Reviewed by jazzyjeff13 from England

3.57/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
A 330ml bottle with a BB of April 2013. Acquired ages ago from a Belgian webshop and stored in my garage. My bottle has a different label from the one shown, and the ABV is 8%. However it says Blonde, so I presume it's the same beer. I'm curious about the suited figure on the front.

Poured into a Duvel tulip. Bottle conditioned. A hazy golden-amber hue with good carbonation and a fair bit of chunky sediment floating around (I tried to keep it in the bottle but it wasn't to be). Yields a huge head of creamy white foam that lasts for a while before reducing to a surface layer. Aroma of fruity yeast esters, apples, sugar, earthy yeast, a hint of coriander, faint grain and subtle stewed hops. Quite sweet, with a warming whiff of booze in the background.a

Tastes of sweet malt with a yeasty character and a dry finish. Notes of fruity yeast esters, white sugar, earthy yeast, mild coriander, grassiness, faint grain and stewed hops. Sweet yet seemingly well-attenuated. Dry, with a mild bitterness upon swallowing and an alcoholic warmth in the background. Mouthfeel is smooth, tingly and mildly spicy, with pleasant carbonation and great body. Rolls over the tongue like velvet. Somewhat astringent, with an aftertaste of fruity yeast esters, sugar and faint stewed leaves.

A decent brew, if not especially noteworthy. Looks the part, with a relatively restrained aroma/flavour of yeast esters, mild spice and alcohol. Lovely body. A perfectly drinkable strong Belgian blonde - worth sampling if you come across it.
Mar 25, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by olfolxholme from California

Mar 02, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by Threske from Washington

Nov 10, 2012
Photo of BlackHaddock
Reviewed by BlackHaddock from England

4/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Same day (but later) I come across an on-tap Loterbol blonde having already drank a bottled version: what a difference.

Still in the lovely little town of Diest, this bar was called 'Taverne Het Haasken' and I had two glasses of this because it was so good. The correct stemmed and badged tulip was used and although it didn't have the huge head the bottle produced it did have a good topping. The body was still cloudy like the bottled one but the aroma seemed more interesting: Coriander can be added to the hop, yeasty, fruity flavours I found within this mostly hoppy brew.

This was more like it: the flavours were strong and forceful from the start, really pleased to have found this tap version because I struggled with the bottle.
Oct 30, 2012
 
Rated: 4 by Rochefort10nh from New Hampshire

Nov 25, 2011
Photo of mrfrancis
Reviewed by mrfrancis from Kentucky

3.85/5  rDev +1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A: Poured from the bottle into a stemmed glass, this beer displays a clear golden hue beneath a fizzy, thin layer of white mousse.

S: Aromas of fiery alcohol, caramel, ripe oranges, lemon, and grassy, herbal hops immediately make their presence known. Very nice, but nothing really out of the ordinary for this style.

T: A surprisingly sweet entry quickly leads to nicely layered notes of lemon, orange, pepper, cream, caramel, cedar, coriander, and aniseed. The finish is dry and warming with a quick punch of alcohol balanced out by notes of cedar, citrus, and spice.

M: Dry, firm, and full-bodied. Has a somewhat restrained, austere feel to it that allows the complex layers of spicy, fruity flavors to shine through in an effective fashion.

O: After being disappointed by Loterbol Bruin, this beer was a nice pick-me-up. In fact, it is so good that it makes me want to give the other a second chance. In my opinion, Loterbol very nearly knocked one out of the park with this beer.
Oct 04, 2011
Photo of benfons
Reviewed by benfons from Belgium

3.52/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
My bottle had a different label, and was stronger with 8% ABV, but it was Loterbol blond.

A: Hazy orange-blonde colour, firm but quite small head.

S: big nose, apple,peach, orange, pineapple candy, a hint of pepper: sweet and spicy at the same time

T: a lot of bitterness, yeast, the peppery note is there, for me this doesn't live up to the promise of the nose, there is also a lot of alcohol

M: undercarbonated, quite dry, quite thin

O: I miss the balance in the taste that the nose promises, too unbalanced. And I don't like the mouthfeel. Maybe this just isn't my cup of tea.
Aug 08, 2011
Photo of kelticblood
Reviewed by kelticblood from Massachusetts

3.61/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Poured an enormous chunky white head that looked like vanilla ice cream. The color is a light hazy gold. Maintained an appealing head long after the pour with plenty of lacing. Aroma is all plum, raisin, malt, and pepperoni? Taste is much like the aspects of the aroma. Hinting at raisins, plums, prunes, and sweet malts. Taste isn't too complex, but is nicely crafted. Great balanced mouthfeel with a nice phenolic/bitter finish. Nicely carbonated with the medium body going down smooth. No hop aroma or taste. Finish gets dry towards the end making you realize how malty this brew it. A touch watery towards the end of the glass thus having to reduce the mouthfeel from 4.5 to 4.0. Overall decent and worth a second try.
Dec 31, 2010
Photo of domtronzero
Reviewed by domtronzero from California

3.7/5  rDev -2.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
A - Murky, deep golden, almost orange copper. Average, long-lasting fluffy whitish head.

S - Sweet pilsner malts. Little bit of oxidized cardboard. Orange/banana esters.

F/M - Candy-like pilsner sweetness, bready, toasty. Moderate bitterness. Lite banana esters. Oxidized cardboard flavor is distracting. Clean, dry finish with a lite estery aftertaste. Medium body with moderately high carbonation.

D - Clean, not too big with a nice pleasant finish. Easy drinking and well balanced.
Sep 07, 2010
Photo of augustgarage
Reviewed by augustgarage from California

3.75/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Courtesy of ShogoKawada (immense thanks!). Best before June, 2010. Poured from a 330mL bottle into my Troubadour tulip.

The body starts off a clear icterine though the ropy chocolate yeast mars this perfection delightfully - the body turns a shade of goldenrod. Dense, milky, magnolia finger of foam - freckled by yeast - persits very well and leaves behind thin ribbons of merengue for lacing.

Doughy, rich, and spicy aromatics - yeast, raw sugar, cumin (almost smells like black beans) - excellent.

Rustic yeast flavors - slightly tart, lots of dark bread notes, buckwheat soba, bergamot, overripe fruit of some sort, "funk" and some odd bitterness that almost comes across as medicinal though in the finish. I RARELY say this, but this might be better if you leave the yeast in the bottle...

Well carbonated, a touch chalky maybe - soft medium-bodied mouthfeel.

Maybe not quite as good as the brown - I still feel very lucky to get a chance to try this, and would certainly buy it occasionally if it were more available.
Apr 28, 2010
Photo of JBogan
Reviewed by JBogan from California

3.27/5  rDev -14.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3
Despite a careful pour, quite a bit of sediment is present among the bright gold body which it topped by a thin white head. Not much in the way of lacing remains on the glass.

The aroma is of sweet honey, yeast and alcohol.

There's a mix of pepper and pears among the honey and alcohol that dominate the taste. It finishes with a bit of a medicinal edge which I wasn't fond of.

The mouthfeel was very crisp and effervescent. This was easily the most enjoyable aspect of this beer.

Overall this was a nice beer but nothing I'd go out of my way for.
Mar 05, 2010
Loterbol Blond from Café-Brouwerij Loterbol
Beer rating: 86 out of 100 with 57 ratings