Gruut Blond
Gentse Gruut Brouwerij

On tap. Pour golden with white head. Aroma is of Belgian yeast, ripe fruit and spices. Body is full and crisp. Taste is of Belgian yeast, herbs, fruity esyets and pale malt. Interesting brew.

On tap, poured into a 33cl Gruut glass, on the River Leie in Ghent, Belgium (very close to the source).

Appearance - An opaque yellow color. Lots of champagne like bubbles. Thin head. Very little stickage. This is a unique looking beer.

Nose - Malty. Citrus. Herbal. Nice

Taste - Nice malt foundation. Mild citrus/lemon notes. Herbal. A bit spicy. A little sour. No flowery hops on the backend (obviously).

Mouth - Fizzy! Sour.

Overall - This is my first gruut beer. It tastes like beer only different. It wasn't as weird as I thought it might be. The malty "beer flavor" is definitely there. Still, I was able to pick up on the subtle gruut spices. These flavors remind me of certain aperitifs such as Aperol or Pimm's No 1. I really enjoyed this gruut experience.

 

Very nice and drinkable unhopped strong ale. I don’t know the herbs but well chosen with fresh grain flavours prominent but balanced. Very moorish.

 

 

 

L- It's somewhat cloudy which I think results in it lookign rather a yellow/earthy colour. It pours with a good looking 1Cm fine-bubble head, that ought to hold up well.
S- It's mild for me, there's just something vaguely 'organic' about it.
T- Better than anticipated. Previous Gruit's from this brewery I've recently tried have (obviously) no hopping as a source of bitterness, but instead various herbs that add that facet. This Blond seems to work better than the others. The herbal element isn't obtrusive to me at all, nor the absence of hops. It might be a good one to blind-taste on a friend as I doubt many at all would guess this is hop-free.
F- Bitterness, ABV% and a slightly rich medium body come together into a decent balance. It feels slightly more than 5.5% to me.
O- Probably the best gruit I've had. But then my benchmark is that it's the most like a decent hops-based beer, with no shouty herbs slamming on your palate. I'll happily finish it, though I still don't see myself buying it again as as a niche import it's $$
330ml bottle. BB: 02/10/2021. Bought from: BelgiumInABox in Antwerp/BE for home delivery to me in London/UK.

 

Pours a slightly cloudy, deep golden amber coloration with a medium, fluffy head. Smells of sweet, doughy, bready malt, light fruity/spicy yeast esters and some herbal accents. Taste follows the nose, with a good balance of sweet'ish doughy, bready malt, some fruity/spice yeast esters of green apple and clove, as well as a distinct, but not too heavy-handed herbal presence. Finishes with a medium bitterness and some esters and herbs lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

I kinda like the idea of a Belgian Gruit, because the yeast esters really add something to the mix here, making up for the lack of hops as well as the herbs. This actually has quite a surprising bitterness considering that it's brewed without hops, as well as a rather enjoyable balance of sweet malts, fruity esters and bitter herbal notes.

Pours a cloudy golden color with a big top of white head that dissolves slowly and leaves some sticky lacings on the glass.
Aroma is of citrus, yeast, light malts, herbs and spices.
The flavour is sweet with fruity notes and some malt presence in the back. It then gets strong herbal and spicy notes in the flavour before it finishes of with a medium bitterness.
The finish I find a little unbalanced and watery.
Mouthfeel is soft and smooth with a lively carbonation and a medium body.
It is an easy drinking and interesting beer to try, beside from that is nothing very exciting about it.

 

 

 

 

From Belgiuminabox. In Grimbergen glass. Playing GooCubelets the void. 8months+ after bbf date. Nice combination of belgian pale ale,with a nice sugary sweetness, and tasty herbs. Why are hops so much used over gruit?