Lichtervelds Blond
Brouwerij De Dolle Brouwers

330ml bottle from Wee Beer Shop, Glasgow (£5.61):
Darkish-gold, a 2.5cm, foamy white head & good retention. Banana, yeast & clove notes with pale malts & foant honey. Storng, lively carbonation with banana dominating the taste, some nice cloves, coriander & yeasty flavours too.

 

 

330 mL bottle. Pours clear with a very active head. Smells of sweet bananas and other fruity notes, light herbals, and some spicy yeast notes. Tastes a little sweet, with some spicy clove and fruity flavors, before earthy yeast cuts the sugar. Ends bitter and dry. Medium body. I'd never have guessed 9%. Good.

L- Medium gold with a hue of tan maybe because there is quite a bit of sediment in it. It was well rested+chilled so imagine that's the intention. Pours with big pillowy dense pale-tan head.
S- There is a dry + slightly sour edge that reminds me more of a dry cider than a beer.
T- It is notably hoppy, with a bright/piquant flavour, and that's *despite* being 9%! There is also a really quite punchy rich yet slightly sour fruity 'meaty' taste coming through as well. Hard to describe, it seemed dominated by sour cherry and next like cooking apple.
F- It's punchy, though doesn't outright show it's ABV% (classy that!) which is balanced by a touch of fruity sourness. Nicely balanced.
O- Something a bit different for me, hefty yet quite bright on the palate too. I'd certainly drink this again. 330ml bottle BB: Aug-2020. Bought from BelgiumInABox (Antwerp/BE) for delivery to me in London/UK.
ps. Pour cautiously, even rested and chilled this one really created huge foam on the pour/beware.

 

From Zombier. In Teku glass. Playing Magic 2015. Lots of foam. All I expect in the style very well executed, with the ABV well hidden. Dry, with apple/pear notes and some grass. Very drinkable and moreish. Invites to long sips.

 

Clear golden color with huge, frothy white head. Aroma is very "belgian" with intense floral notes from the yeast. Taste starts on the sweet side with honey malt, sugar sweetness and yeast esters. Finishes slightly bitter and earthy. Medium body and carbonation, dry aftertaste. I am not really a fan of belgian blondes but this one is quite good.

 

 

 

Rare De Dolle! On tap!

Once upon a time, De Dolle was my favorite Belgian brewer. This is back when I lived in Iowa, and back before the Midwest's entire supplies of Belgians were hoarded by the sweaty awful denizens of Chicago. De Dolle was plentiful, fresh, and inexpensive. Bought an entire case of Bos Kuen one cold, slow spring, and every sip was a promise of sunshine that staved off severe seasonal affective disorder.

Anyhow, even back when it seemed like De Dolle was everywhere, I still never saw it on tap. Once, I think at at the Map Room, they had the Stille Nacht. And now around Boston I find 6-year-old bottles of Oeirbier sitting in shelves. But finding De Hoop on tap was a wonderful surprise.

Advertised as a triple, I nearly grabbed my wife's beer because De Hoop pours so pale and filtered.

Smells like De Dolle usual, perfect yeast profile: zero alcohol burn, sweet grain and sugar. A little light for the style, but exquisite.

Tastes... very limp, at first. Amazingly smooth, but for a triple there's just not much there. A few sips in, however, some complexities begin to reveal themselves. (Googling for pictures of De Hoop's bottles, it seems the brewers refer to this as a "Blond Extra," which makes a ton more sense and is how I'm reviewing the beer).

The yeasty, malty sweetness asserts itself throughout, but it balanced out by floral nodes, berries, and grain. The overall effect tastes as pure and cleansing as rainwater--it doesn't knock your socks off right away, takes a little bit of thought to really appreciate, but man is it something else.

Excellent, unique beer. Grab one if you're lucky enough to come across it.

Very nice blonde beer. Medium bitterness, with a citrus touch that reminds me more of oranges and less of lemons. It's very smooth to drink, although it has an alcoholpercentage of 9%.