St. Benôit Blonde
Brasserie Du Bocq

Decent ale. Golden color with light cloudiness, mid-sized white head. The aroma of yeast , spices, and bread. The taste is sweet with yeasty and spices notes. Light bitterness in the aftertaste

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had this beer in Pattaya recently - poured into a goblet. The beer was chilled, so I waited a while after the pour. It poured a resplendent golden with a puffy and a big head (of course I was a little aggressive with the pour, like always) - reminded me a lot like Duvel. Fine stream of bubbles rushed to add more lucidity to the already brilliant whiteness of the crown. As time elapsed, the retention amazed me, as if the head was a stiffly beaten meringue. The smell was the usual Belgian yeast and funk all over, not that it was a problem, just too predictable. Some spice and some toffee notes too made their way into the air. The taste was sweet upfront, but immediately cut down by a sharp and dry finish, leaving just a hint of sugar and spice behind. Cut out the pepperiness from Duvel - and that would be St Benoit for you. Of course, the all too predictable Belgian funk stamp was all over, but all in a good way. The carbonation was a little over the top, but it gave a good bite to the beer - what it lacked in bitterness, it made up with liveliness.

I am a little surprised by the relatively low rating this beer has got so far on BA (albeit, only with 12 reviews so far) - it fares far better than what the scores may indicate. A highly recommended Belgian beer.

Chilled 33cl bottle poured into a tulip glass.

Produces a thick 2 finger head, holds moderate lace.

Color is a hazy gold

Sweetish aroma mixed with malt and baked doughy themed notes

Medium body with a reasonably hefty degree of carbonation. Taste is extremely dry with a very funky and unbalanced malt flavor. This was worsened in my opinion with a very sweet (too much sugar?) finish.

This one had most of the right visual elements so it looked the part, however, when it came down to the business end - this one failed to impress.

Not a dirty rotten broth by any means but not really in the game when you consider the other "benchmark" offerings from the Belgian Pale Ale category.

Squat 33cl brown bottle, best before 29th Oct 09, drank late May 09. Poured into a Westmalle chalice, with the sediment going into a J&B Whisky glass.

Looked like a lager really, golden and with a well formed white head. It was clear because of the double pour, the sediment was murky and was a great afterdrink.

Sweet and yeasty aroma, straw, cerels and tinny, not very nice.

Metalic nasty flavour.

Another Du Bocq designer beer, this brewery could produce (and does) some good beers, but they play around and push out anything they think will sell. Hiding the breweries name on the rear label annoys me too! No wonder I end up coming home with some of their beers, they flood the market and I keep missing who the brewery is.

BB 06/05/09

a) Yellow gold, slight haze. Inch-thick rocky white head, nice bubbling.

s) Toasty bread crusts, waxy, pepper. Some hammy, fleshy notes. Touch of lemonade.

f) Excellent flavour.... complex malt combo with spice & phenolic elements. Caramel touch, yet not too sweet, which helps lift the other notes. Good, balanced bitterness rounds it off.

m) As already implied, reasonably dry, with explosive, mouth effervescence, slight tartness, and crisp finish.

d) One of the more sessionable Belgians I've encountered. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

A clear, golden beer with maximum lacing.

Smell is bready, doughy and a bit grainy with notes of spices.

Taste is sweet and malty. There is a doughy taste that is also a bit biscuity. The total absence of bitterness or hoppiness is not helping it's complexity. Mouthfeel is a bit empty. Drinkability is OK.

Beer bottle (25cl.), tasted in 2000.

Appearance : Blond (pale) color, with white foamy head.
Smell : sweet and spicy aromas.
Taste and mouthfeel : mild, round in the mouth, fruity with a little bitterness is very low.
Drinkability : an average beer in the style Belgian pale ale.

The colour is yellow-orange. The liquid is somewhat cloudy (the beer is bottle conditioned). The finger thick foam slowly sinks down (with a fizzing sound) to an airy white lid. No lacing. Looks like a Blonde to me.

The smell is sourish with fruity notes; apricots, tangerines, herbs, hay and some yeast.

The taste is a bit lighter than what I had expected… Notes of matured red apples, some sourness, wheat flour, bitter herbs, and some dark rum-flavour are present. The quite short aftertaste got notes of biscuits, dried apricots, some toffee and alcohol.

The carbonation is very strong with lots of small bubbles.

In many other styles, this would have been an interesting beer, but it is a Belgian Blonde and as such, it is rather uninteresitng