La Rullés Estivale (Bière De Gaume)
Brasserie Artisanale De Rulles SPRL

Golden colour, clear. White high foam, with an incredibly compact, 'stiff' structure. It reduces lazily, leaving behind frothy islands on the glass.
Strongly malty, spicy aroma with a slight yeastiness, very delicate and "brief" fruity accents in the background.
Taste decidedly dry. The bitterness is herbal in character, pronounced, high and long.
Medium saturation upwards. Full body. Liquid texture smooth, soft. Aftertaste long, bitter, herbal.

Lots of malt, creamy mouthfeel, very nice Belgian pale.

 

nice peach blonde colour, lots of foam and some lacing. smell is herbal, hay, ginger, pepper, some citrus and wheat. taste is bitter sublte lime, grassy, hay, some florals, wheat nd yeasty dry finish. not bad overall

Medium: Capped, elongated tulip glass.
Opacity: Slightly hazy.
Color: Straw with moderate activity.
Head: Foamy 2-3 finger.
Legs: Very good overall.
Smell: Lemon/Malted barley & oats/Straw.
Taste: Peach/Cherries/Brett yeast/Flowery.
Feel: Floral/Barnyard/Spicy/Cereal/Yeasty.
Body: Medium to full slick and fluffy, quite smooth.
Carbonation: Good long sharp crisp.
Overall: More a Saison than Belgian Pale Ale, and a bold one indeed. Closer to a Belgian IPA/Saison. A nice mix of dryness and sweetness, a superb quality craft with high drinkability.

Visual 8/10 - Flavors 8.5/10 - Sensations 9/10 - Balance 9/10 -
Freshness 7/10 - Intensity 7.5/10 - Complexity 9/10 - Appreciation 9/10

my friends have taken to (lovingly i hope) calling me "dusty belgian", which is a joke of course, but also my favorite type of beer i think. my travels have led me to a lot of belgian bottles forgotten by time. i often feel like the price points on them were ahead of their time, way too high for the eight dollar six pack guy, but now a 12 dollar bottle suggests something other than high end, because we have allowed ourselves to get used to paying double that for the best craft beers in america, or what we are told are the best, so these have never really lined up well with american consumer trends, hence dusty dated belgian beer all over the country, more in some places than others. i was stoked to find this one, it had six or seven price change stickers on it, stacked on top of each other presumably representing efforts to move the product without taking too much of a loss on it. no date that i can see, but this has to be several years old at least now. its golden and thick looking for its lower abv, with some oxidation to it sure, but a wonderfully unique and mature yeast profile, still really lively in the glass, unexpectedly so, and with notes of dried apricots and peaches, aged hops, earthy wheat in high proportion, and even a spelt or a rye or something, but it could just be barley malt decaying nicely over time. its complex and sturdy, even fancy feeling, with some sweetness still like honey, a bitter botanical finish, and a classically belgian ester profile thats also got some cool nuance, white wine and stone fruit. awesome beer overall, forgotten by time apparently, but worthy even with this much time on it. i would love to try this fresh, but i would buy it again all old like this too. yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Lyon Bière Festival. Pale yellow with a thin white head. Zesty, citrusy and herbal both in aroma and flavour. Very refreshing, nothing fancy. Great for what it is, a summer beer.