L'Apicole Blonde
Brasserie Artisanale Du Flo

 

The 'Beekeeping' beer, subtitled 'beer of the bee,' labelled as made with honey. My tasting was of a bottle acquired last summer at the Musée Des Bières Belges, with the use-by dates (range 2011-2014) not ticked on the label. The brewery told me on the phone it's brewed year-round. Poured/gushed into a tulip glass at a few degrees below cellar temperature. Very attractive appearance, with a color between brass and copper, so viscous that the surface level almost looks irregular below a monstrous cloud of big-bubbled, slowly settling foam, which was continuously fed by visible strands of bubbles within, marred only by lots of sandy-colored sediment in the glass and atop the head. Excellent smell, faintly hop-perfumed and almost candy-like with fruit: apricots, bananas and strawberry to the fore. Plus, a gentle yeast aroma -- bakery, not brewery. Before I could even taste, mouthfeel asserted itself with an explosion of carbonation in the mouth, a bit too much but balanced somewhat by the chewiness of the liquid. Tons more of those fruits on the palate on a strong base of something like a honey-flavored breakfast cereal, (not entirely) balanced on a thin wedge of hop bite. I found it really good and complex but it will be rather (too) sweet for some.