Palm / Palm Speciale | Brouwerij Palm NV

3.71/5  rDev +12.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

330 ml bottle into tulip glass, best before 6/29/2019. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy medium orange amber/light copper color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky off white head with awesome retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of orange, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red apple, golden raisin, light pepper/clove, honey, bread dough, toasted biscuit, light caramel/nuttiness, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Nice aromas with good balance and complexity of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malts, and light earthy hop notes; with good strength. Taste of orange, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red apple, golden raisin, light pepper/clove, honey, bread dough, toasted biscuit, light caramel/nuttiness, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/floral/grassy hop bitterness and peppery yeast spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of orange, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red apple, golden raisin, light pepper/clove, honey, bread dough, toasted biscuit, light caramel/nuttiness, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malts, and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and zero cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from bitter/spiciness. Medium-high carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy, and lightly sticky mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.2%. Overall this is a nice Belgian pale ale. All around good complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malts, and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth and refreshing to drink with the mildly bitter/spicy/drying finish. Balanced yeast and nicely rich Munich malts; with solid hop bitter balance against sweetness. A nicely enjoyable offering. A bit underwhelming, but spot on style example in every way.

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3.74/5  rDev +13%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

3/5  rDev -9.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

3.4/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

3.16/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

2.59/5  rDev -21.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

3.44/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

3.23/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

3.27/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

3.91/5  rDev +18.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

2.7/5  rDev -18.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3

3.06/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

3.85/5  rDev +16.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

3.47/5  rDev +4.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

3.31/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

3.77/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

3.71/5  rDev +12.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Poured from bottle into tulip, 1 finger darkish cream soapy head, good retention and lacing. Clear amberish golden in the glass. Smells faintly of a euro lager, first thing that hit me, but as it warms some slight Belgian esters and some floral come to the nose. Taste is initially like the smell, I am getting that clean toasted malt flavor, there are some slight esters coming thru, a mild bit of citrus and it finishes up with mild bitterness and some floral/earthy hop character. Clean drinking, but probably won't go out of my way to obtain any more

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2.25/5  rDev -32%
look: 2.25 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.25

2.77/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75

Won't pour it out but I won't buy it again.

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3/5  rDev -9.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

2.5/5  rDev -24.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

almost as bad as Stella; should be booted from Belgium.

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3.42/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

3.03/5  rDev -8.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

No record of when or where purchased but it’s location in the reefer makes it this year.
11.2 oz bottle dated 01.12.2016 stored at 42 degrees. Served at 42 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – yeast and candy sugar.
Head small (Maximum two cm, aggressive pour), off white, average density, average retention diminishing to an irregular two to seven mm ring fed by effervescence and a thin partial layer.
Lacing – fair. Partial rings of tiny bubbles.
Body – dark gold, clear, effervescent.
Flavor – starts somewhat sweet with honey-like overtones. No hops, no malt, no alcohol, no diacetyl.
Palate – medium, almost syrupy, soft carbonation.

A very average beer, neither pleasing nor off-putting. OK if there’s nothing else to drink.

Appearance 3.5, Aroma 3, Flavor 3, Palate 3, Overall 3.

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3.5/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

3.18/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25