Femme Fatale
Brouwerij De Leite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She, it feels appropriate to say, pours copper-bronze colored, translucent, with a big head of fast rising and then steady falling ivory bubbles. Toast, wild flowers, thyme, banana in the nose, attractively unusual but quite faint. Tastes of vanilla, apricot, banana, sweet herbs, very lightly toasted buttered toast. Complex but a bit imbalanced toward the sweet. Texture of cream and carbonation, filling the mouth nicely but washing itself away nicely, rich but not cloying. Overall, surprising, different, unique in a good way, even if not quite as dangerous or alluring as the name. BTW, this was a bottle bought this doing, no sell-by date, in tulip glass.

Femme Fatale has a mysterious charm; the beer is golden in colour but has a heavily blurred complexion. Equal parts pale and dark ale, I suppose the brewery's determination of 'light amber' is the best description. Decent head makes for a lacing as clingy as an insecure girlfriend.

The aroma has a good selection of flavours to chose from: peaches, hay, straw, lemon grass, pepper and clove, each equally as pleasant and aromatic as the others. In fact, they all sort of amalgamate together to make a fairly earthy, lightly spicy and well perfumed bouquet.

The taste is similar to the aroma but with a heightened emphasis on orchard fruits (apple, pear, peach). It tastes like a Saison/Belgian Pale Ale fusion. The flavour also introduces a subtle applesauce-like note that fits right in with the cereal graininess of the malts.

Not entirely sweet, however, the mouthfeel boasts an unexpected level of earthy hop pungency that manifests itself into a tea-like bitterness that propagates in tandem with herbal notes of lemon myrtle. A fairly laid-back carbonation allows the flavours to fall flat on the palate and just sit there until they become a bit stale.

Femme Fatale is somewhat enchanting but nowhere near seductive enough to entrance me into buying another bottle of it. Though I'd gladly drink it again if offered, the country of Belgium has so many more little known breweries like this one that make comparable beers that a man can't be blamed for wanting to explore as many as he can!

 

 

33 Cl bottle taken in the back room of ‘tBrugs Beertje (through and past the toilets): Tom was looking after everybody back there this evening in Dec 2011.

The body was a hazy mid-orange or old gold colour, on top a thin white head.

Citrusy hop nose; with malt loaf and yeasts to add good measure.

The taste was hops first and last, in between I found yeast, bread, sweetness and grapefruit flavours.

The beer seemed slightly over carbonated and somewhat ‘fizzy’, it certainly flew out the bottle, but couldn’t call it a gush.

Mr average in most aspects.

Poured a very cloud light brown.

Very hoppy for a Belgian beer, with a great aroma. Smells of coriander and orange peel.

Unflitered, unsweetened and unpasteurized.

Apparently Axel is the girl on the bottle.

The taste was excellent, matching the aroma in terms of hops and orange.

Felt very good in the mouth, definitely something I will order if I stumble across it somewhere else. Found it today in a little beer store a couple of miles from my house where I grab a few new beers each week.