Trappist Achel 5° Blond
Brouwerij der St. Benedictusabdij de Achelse

Reviewed in Roger Protz' " 300 Beers To Try Before You Die!"

 

 

 

 

A – Clear and pale amber body 2 fingers of white foam, retention is stellar along with loads of thick webbed lacing.

S – Loads of grain and cereal, some grassiness, honey, minerals, stone fruit.

T – Sweet pale malt, grainy, grassy, earthy yeast, mild banana, honey, lavender, the malts dominate but has some earthiness to round it out. Finishes dry.

M – Ample carbonation, medium body, dry finish.

Nice Pale ale with no evidence of such a high ABV. Good rustic presence. I could drink this all day but it would sneak up on you quick.

Trappist Achel Blond from an Abby in Belgium

Aroma. Light grains with a bigger floral hops and mild citrus in the nose

Appearance light yellow with a light haze White floamy head. With great lacing

Taste starts out sweet slightly grain flavors then fruits and mild spice and hop bitterness at the end

Mouthfeel Moderate carbonation, smooth with little mouth coating

Overall a good Belgium Trappist beer not as complexed as some but makes for. Good session beer

 

 

 

 

On tap at the Achel cafe during last week's trip to Belgium. Reviewed from notes.

Surprisingly, this one was not served in an Achel chalice, but rather just a plain chalice. A bit disappointing.

Pours a slightly-hazy yellow with a big white head and lots of lacing. Light grain and floral hops in the nose, carrying over to the flavor, which is a bit grainy but more toward the hops with a bit of earthy yeast. Light and smooth with crisp carbonation. Very solid brew.

This beer is the table beer of the Achel monks and is only available on draft in the abbey pub.
Look: pours a hazy golden-yellow color with a small head.
Smell: Citrus (orange zest and lemon), grains, some grass and flowers, and yeast.
Taste: grainy, with sweet honey, some fruits (peach, apricot?) and spicy coriander. Light hoppy and dry aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Medium-high carbonation with a watery body
Overall: Quite a bit better than the bruin 5. A very refreshing and nice session beer.

A - Cloudy copper-brown with a thick, creamy head.

S - Apples, pears and peaches. Some funk and Belgian yeast. Quite fragrant.

T - Orange and a hint of grapefruit come to mind. Lots of yeastiness as well. Very dry and also a quite bitter finish.

M - Fairly light bodied, but the carbonation seems a touch too sharp.

D - Tasty but a little rough on the palate.

Yet another trappist under my belt. It poured a golden yellow with a 3 finger head much like Duvel. Very carbonated like soda but very strong in flavor and sent. It had citrus notes but you could tell that there was also apple and pear coming through. Alcohol flavor is barely present. It is a very refreshing beer and I would suggest sipping this one because if you tend to slam this down, you will find yourself a little gassy. If you like Duvel and Hoegarrden you will like this beer!

Pours with a huge pillowy head that keeps on growing afterwards due to the infinite army of bubbles. The retention is top shelve, huge gobs of lacing are left behind as the head finally starts to settle. Has a cloudy golden color.

Smells of fruits (apples, pears), yeasty spices, and a touch of barn.

Tastes of sweet fruits, yeasty spices, has a nice hoppy bite. Very happy with this one.

Pours a hazy golden with a creamy white head, very effervescent, with lots of lacing. Aroma was yeasty and floral, with a hint of sourness and cloves. Taste was spicy and bready, with bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel was quite carbonated, and no alcohol is detectable. This is a good blond, not my favourite though.

This is far and away the hoppiest of the Trappist beers I have yet encountered. Not American IPA-level of hoppiness by any means, but the hops are certainly much more present than in say, Chimay, Rochefort, Westmalle or Orval. Certainly a Pale Ale.

After pouring the 12-oz. bottle into a chalice, I was pleased with the decent head that floated atop this pleasantly golden-colored beer. It smelled even better than it looked with spring flowers and greenwood leading the bouquet.

Average mouthfeel, neither too chewy nor too watery, which is more than compensated for in the taste, which is clean floral tones and a hoppy finish.

Nothing ground-breaking, but a very solid Pale Ale. Tasty.

Pours a rich golden color with billowing white head. Reminds me a lot of Duvel, but not quite as good. Fruity aroma, pears, apples, alcohol. Flavor is balanced in malt to hops, and the hops are quite nice in the aroma as well. Well fermented like the other trappists, not cloying, finishes well.

An excellent beer. You have to love the authenticity of a quality, Trappist product. Pours a fairly light gold looking color with a healthy head of foam. Smells slightly sweet, carmelly, with a very yeasty grassy scent, almost a bit funky. This all comes out in the taste as well, along with light floral hops and a nice crisp malt backdrop. I already said it was a great beer, so don't get me wrong, but compared to some of the other top quality Belgians there's something about this beer that falls a tad short. All of the flavors are great, and pronounced, but they don't seem to meld together as well as they could. Once again, I'm being harsh because this is such a top quality product. Fairly light on the mouthfeel as well. A pleasure to drink however, with out being too complex that it overwhelms.

Poured from a 330mL bottle.

I receive a large, fluffy white head that laces all the way to the bottom of the glass. There are thousands of tiny sediment particles in a golden amber body.
It smells of a spicy Belgian yeast.
The flavor is filled with banana, coriander, and a citrus zest. Very interesting and exceptionally tasty.
Wow, so refreshing! I had this beer with a dry lamb and artichoke stew (spezzatino) that was spiced with Arab seasonings and spritzed with lemon; the pairing was perfect by each and every meaning of the word.

Solid Belgian blond. I won’t drink this one again, at least locally because I’m not a particular fan of the style and at 8 bucks for a 330, I can’t hardly afford to drink from a style that doesn’t excite me. That being said, this was a damn fine beer.

Perfectly clingy thick white head that’s sticky as a spider web and lasting. Golden as dried straw in sunlight.

Smells of sweet light malts, honey, beeswax, and lemongrass.

Tastes like dried toast. It’s lightly spicy with subtle lemon and grain notes. Barn like.

Light bodied, just on the dry side with a mildly hoppy bitter finish.

Moderately drinkable.