Queue De Charrue Blonde | Brasserie Vanuxeem

3.75/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Hazy deep golden pour with big frothy head.
Aroma is dominated by spicy yeast and notes of coriander.
Taste follows the nose with some spicy yeast but not as powerful as the smell.
Medium, soft body with good carbonation.

Overall this was a very decent belgian blonde.

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3.63/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Hazy dark orange pour, fluffy white head with nice retention.
Smells of blond fruit, spices, coriander, Belgian sugars and hops.
Sweet fruit in the taste, mixed with big sugars (even some candi in there). Typical yeasty spiciness, a bit herbal, low grainy malts. Spicy mildly bitter finish with a decent hop presence.
Medium body, a bit thick, medium carbonation.
Somewhat regular, but that doesn't mean mediocre.

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2.26/5  rDev -36.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Brown 25cl bottle, slightly out of date (by 3 months). Poured into a Hoegaarden Grand cru stemmed tulip glass, without any sediment leaving the bottle. This is another one of those 'label beers', no brewery, just contracted out with the name 'Ploegsteert' as a front. This is the third in the set I've reviewed.

Snow white bubbley head on top of a lagerlike golden, bright body.

Very little aroma, even as the beer warmed. Mostly alcohol esters with maybe hints of Belgian yeasts if I sniff really hard.

The taste seems to be more alcohol than anything else, a bit like those strong lagers that have no flavour but give you a huge headache.

Not impressed, better than the Du Bocq brewed Queue De Charrue Amber, but not as good as the Queue De Charrue Brune, which is brewed by Verhaeghe.

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3.7/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Beer bottle (33cl.), tasted in 1999.

Appearance : orange color, with a huge white foamy head.
Smell : The aroma is sweet with notes of coriander.
Taste and mouthfeel : sweet spicy, alcohol presence with bitter finish
Drinkability : a good beer in the style Belgian strong pale ale.

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3.52/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Appearance: clear light orange-bronze colour. The head is white, moderately low and delicate. Poor retention followed by very little lacing.
Aroma: sweet malts, alcoholic vinous and some ripe fruits notes.
Taste: confirms the aroma plus caramel and some spices.
Mouthfeel: unctuous, moderate carbonation and a full body. Warming and very high alcoholic strength (although not so apparent as you would expected from a 9.0% ABV beer).
Finish: sweet alcohol aftertaste.

Overall Queue de Charrue is an interesting beer to be appreciate slowly. It is complex and strong. Unfortunately I only bought a 25 cl bottle, leaving me wanting for more.

★ 639 characters

3.83/5  rDev +7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

I had a bottle at Paix in Poperinge.

Appearance: Pours a cloudy golden with a thick, white head that fades to a persistent quarter-inch layer leaving patchy lace.

Smell: Grainy with some pepper and light citrus.

Taste: Subdued fruity sweetness upfront with a peppery and grainy finish with a light bitterness.

Mouthfeel: High carbonation, light-bodied with a grainy dryness.

Drinkability: Good, sweet and spicy.

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4.1/5  rDev +14.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Bottle 25 cl. Nice white big foam. Color is very pale, almost as a white beer, and cloudy. Aroma is fruity, spicy, glazed fruits, cake, some lemon, coriander. In the mouth I feel cake, some fruits, maybe apple or pear, cream. Slightly sourness and very refreshing.

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4.13/5  rDev +15.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Beautiful color. Seducing cloudy golden with this typical shade of mystery that you can only unveil through a careful examination punctuated by a few sips. The head is white, nicely laced, leaving a 1cm sheet forever. Appealing belgian yeast aroma comes up pretty herbal, somehow reminiscent of Hallertau, but I definitely can’t pinpoint those hops. Cerealic maltiness gives a mealish complement to the bready and pie crust like yeast, chunky and dry. Nice yeast evolution, as it warms, musty undertones get uncovered, but from the very beginning fresh fragrant hay is as expressive as in almost any other beer. Long aftertaste, bitter, tart and very yeasty. Smooth bodied, gently switching from sweetness, acidity and bitterness with ease. Medium to full bodied, gently carbonated. To me a fine example of a tripel with well contained alcohol content and far better than most Steenberge stuff.

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3.75/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A dense and quite persistent foamy head. A high level of carbonation with very big bubbles in the middle of the glass. Color is golden and doesn’t imply much complexity.
The taste is bitter, fruity and citric. I couldn’t determine what fruit was there.
The aftertaste I found very refreshing and the 9% abv didn’t prevent the beer from being highly drinkable. An enjoyable brew, the only Queue de charrue I would be willing to drink again in the future.

★ 459 characters