Troubadour Blond Ale
The Musketeers Brouwerijcafé

330ml bottle from Beers of Europe (£2.99):
Bright golden with a thick, foamy head about 1.5cm tall with good lacing on the sides. Fresh & zesty, yeast & banana notes with spices, bubblegum sweetness & some apple. Strong carbonation, effervescent & sharp with a dry feel, lots of banana flavours alongside some pepper, spice & Belgian yeast with grape & apple to finish. Well balanced & very drinkable; nice stuff.

 

 

Sometimes there are. I explanations. And I. Reality, there shouldn’t be. You do this, I do that. And right now, I’m doing it nice and well. Imagine that. Imagine anything. And believe. Believe…

 

Blind-tasted except for the beer's name/style and brewery/country...
L- Pale gold, almost clear (minor sediment left in bottle), pours with an eager 5Cm white head so I suggest taking the pour unusually slooooowly just in case or the pour might take a few minutes... ps forms vast lacing on the way down.
S- Very much estery Belgian yeast notes, timber, some leather, likely some spice notes.
T- Quite bright hops right off, then straight into some meaty malts. I don't sense the ester notes standing out to be ID'd, it's like the Taste blends into a coherent whole with no aspect over-prominent. ps. There's a nice restrained little hoppy-zing right at the finish.
F- It's a solid Feel to this, solid malts. IDK the ABV% yet but it feels notably pungent... ooooh... about 8.2? Great CO2 in the mouth.
O- This is a superb beer. The way the taste and feel come together is something outstanding, it comes over as an effortless whole, but it's actually down to darn good brewing. A superb beer, really, and I'd love to get some more of it.
Review/scoring all done, now the reveal, I get to read the bottle lables to see what I missed! It's only 6.5%! Wow, it's astonishly 'meaty' for just that. It's bottle conditioned, and that's all of note to add.
330ml bottle BB: 08/07/2022 £2.50 Bought from BeautifulBeers/BurySt.Edmunds as part of a large pick-your own consignment to London.

Split two ways - first half crystal clear golden yellow, second got the particulate so a bit of haze -2 fingers tight white head.
Aroma cereal malt, fruity with notes of apple, grape and a bit of Belgian yeast.
Tastes refreshingly crisp - slightly sweet malt, apple, green grape, floral hop and a little bit of spicy Belgian yeast.
Smooth clean light to medium mouthfeel - hiding 6.5% quite well - moderate carbonation - slightly sweet finish.

 

 

 

330ml bottle - nice to see that there is now actual recognition for this style of old-world brew, and we don't have to shoehorn this kind of thing into the broad Belgian Pale Ale category.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, chunky, and caked bone-white head, which leaves some scattered snow rime lace around the glass as it slowly seeps away.

It smells of bready and doughy cereal malt, some musty yeastiness, muddled pome fruity notes, and some understated earthy, herbal, and floral hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, some apple/pear and white grape fruitiness, estery yeast, and more tame leafy, musty, and gently perfumed floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly laid-back in its insouciant-seeming frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, but for a hint of alcohol ingress as this particular juncture. It finishes trending dry, the yeast and fading graininess presiding.

Overall - this is a pleasant enough version of the style, with a nice warming sensation from the extra point and a half of the ol' wowee sauce. Crisp, and easy to put back on another cozy weekend afternoon, watching the late summer snow fall outside. Yeah, I'm not kidding.

 

As my quest at sticking to reviewing Belgian Beer sourced in France or here on the Emerald Isle had significantly dried up, I stumbled upon this at an M&S food store for the stupendous price of £1.65.

Thankfully I have a fresh crate arriving from Belgium in time for Christmas review.

Back to the beer in hand.......

Poured into a Karmeliet tulip glass to give the head a chance to stick, and it did not disappoint.
This beer looks great, lovely slightly hazed golden body, decent head (on the foamy rather than creamy side, to be expected with a blonde)

Aroma is pleasing, lightly spiced, with a hint of floral. All mixed with a subtle smidgen of malt and apple/pear notes.

Taste is pretty good, but a touch disappointing, given its scent and appearance. It is quite dry on the tongue, and the flavour is a little weak, only really picking out the malt. Quite boozy, even though only 6.5%

Aftertaste is quite caramel, and does invite you to grab the glass for another slug.

Overall, almost a great find!!......if only the taste had a bit of guts and carried through a few of that lovely aroma.

 

 

 

 

L: pours a slight hazy golden color, with a nice big top of creamy head, nice sticky lacings on the sides of the glass.

A: banana,red apples,pears,apricot,peppers,cloves and honey

T: Starts off sweet with a fruitys notes, then the flavours gets more notes off herbs and spices before it ends with a dry finish and a good lenght inn the aftertaste

F: medium body with medium carbonation. Fizzy and creamy mouthfeel. maybe a little bit to dry feel inn the mouth.

O: All inn all a quite pleasant blonde, very easy drinking and refreshing, maybe a little bit weak inn the flavour, but i would not mind drink this one again.

The colour is deep yellow, the liquid clear. The very high head is compact, uneven and off-white; it sinks very slowly to a thick lid leaving lots of thick lacing on the glass.

The smell is dry and spicy with notes of white pepper, nutmeg, dried bitter orange peel and coriander seeds. Sweet fruity notes of apricots and pineapple. Some banana peel/green bananas.

The taste is very smooth with smooth fruity flavours (pear, unripe banana, kiwi and red apples). Bread/dough-like notes of wheat flour and hints of vanilla and cloves. Medium body. The aftertaste is even smoother with fresh baked French loaf, banana and vanilla ice cream. Quickly passing clean alcohol. The long finish reminds of vanilla shortbread.

The carbonation is medium strong; the large bubbles fresh and long-lived. The liquid is semi-thick and smooth.

A solid blond, highly drinkable.