La Trappe Blond (Koningshoeven / Dominus)
Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven B.V.

 

 

 

gold, little foam.
honey, vanilla, fruity.
pleasant and prickly. not overly complex or heavy. very refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 2002: This was my first Trappist ale, surely most of the others must be better?? Well, it's not a bad sipping beer, but I expected so much more. Lovely aroma when you open the bottle, diminishes considerably in the glass. I started drinking it too cold, but it didn't improve much as it warmed up. Sweetish aftertaste. Maybe I would have liked it more with a solid meal? Definitely not worth the price.

 

Pours a clear golden color with a medium top off white head that dissolves quickly.
Aroma is of banana, honey, citrus, yeast and spices. The taste is dry with fruity notes and yeasty spice notes. The finish has some slight bitterness but is a little flat. Mouthfeel is soft and smooth with a medium carbonation and a medium body.
A nice, simple and easy driniking blonde ale.

 

A great Belgian blond ale, with lots of caramel anf full taste!

Bottled and purchased from my local Bargain booze
Poured into my ye olde English dimpled, handled pint pot to real a slightly hazy golden body with decent enough white head
Aroma is golden syrup
Cloves in the flavour, wheat notes

 

look: one finger very smooth off white head, great retention and loads of lacing, beer is amber coloured, very hazy, nice stream of bubbles rising through the beer.

smell: lots of vanilla, banana and clove smells coming through, lot of lemon and orange, almost like a wheat beer, has a real tang to it and a nice fruity sweetness, perhaps a hint of bitterness.

taste: the flavour is very reserved, but what is there is most pleasant, lots of vanilla and orange, lemon zest, clove, that banana flavour which seems to be present in all la trappe beers, however it’s most mild in this one, there is somewhat of a slightly smokey oaky malt flavour at first, beer is quite sweet, just the slightest bit of bitterness on the finish, quite nice.

feel: light bodied, high carbonation, very tingly carbonation, very clean and smooth, alcohol is totally hidden.

overall: a most pleasant beer, a fun beer in a way, a total gateway beer to get people into craft beer, subtle in flavour but still interesting.

 

33cl bottle. Light haze, dark gold colour with visible carbonation. Thick, fluffy head collapses to a ring. Yeasty aroma of cloves & overripe banana. Clean, malty, yeasty flavour with light bitterness and sticky mouthfeel. A refreshing, moreish, uncomplicated blond. Alcohol is well hidden.

 

 

 

 

33 CL bottle in Dubrovnik. BB date stamped July 2021.
Pours with a clear amber body with an excellent white head that settles slowly.
Yeast dominated smell and flavor with mild bitterness. Bold flavor for style.
Medium-high carbonation in a medium body.

 

 

 

 

Pours a glowing golden color with a bigger, spongy head atop, vanishing noisily.

Smells of white bread dough, cardamom and estery, spicy yeast with some lighter banana peel in it.

Has a light and refreshing mouthfeel with a well developed, mineralic carbonation.

Tastes of caramel, spicy, peppery yeast and smoothing bread rind. Has a sweeter, rock sugar defined middle part, toned down by the uprising, slightly metallic carbonation. Finishes with nutmeg, bakers chocolate and a whiff of cardamom among a sprizzy carbonation and lots of sweet malts.

Solid and easy drinking. This is rather a sweet and sweetness relying Blonde with more of an easy drinking appeal than showcasing an intriguing complexity.