Pale Ale
Brasserie Saint Antoine Abbé

660mL bottle, capped. I awaited this bottle with uncertain speculation - with the french ability to condense a myriad of styles into one catch-all title: Biere Blonde, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I don't think I ever expected it to be like this:
poured out a middling golden colour - not a great sign, it could pass for any number of Molson or Labatt products.... but the head was perfectly sized - there, but not overly voluminous.
Bringing the glass to my nose, I was surprised - strong pine-y notes and there's some floral aromas in there, too.
The taste surprised me even more: it's got a real sour bite to it. At first I thought "my god, they've packaged some sort of lambic as a Belgian blonde". Clearing my head, I went in for a second taste. "perhaps I've had too much Cantillon in the past few months and I'm confusing unique taste with a bad bottle". Try again. See, I definitely like it, so it can't be bad. Gradually I come to see that this is the bitterness of a heavily hopped Belgian Ale. The hops and yeast are battling, and the unique sour notes are winning: sour apples, combined with the pine-y aroma, creates a beautiful sensation. I'm trying to pace myself, but it's flying down my throat.

In conclusion, I'm just going to say, "That Petite Orval that so many people say is better than the standard Orval, I wonder what it tastes like..."