Grottenbier Flemish Ale Blond
St. Bernardus Brouwerij in Watou, West Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Blonde / Pale / Amber Regular Out of Production|
Score
6.94
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
750 ml bottle into tulip glass; 11/23/2009 dating on the bottom of the bottle(best before date?). Pours lightly hazy and cloudy golden orange color with a nice 2 finger dense off white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Spotty foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of pear, apple, grape, floral, pepper, clove, herbal, caramel, honey, biscuit, and herbal earthiness. Very nice aromas with good complexity and balance of fruity/spicy/floral notes with malt sweetness; and good strength. Taste of pear, apple, grape, floral, pepper, clove, herbal, caramel, honey, biscuit, and herbal earthiness. Lingering notes of light fruits, floral, pepper, herbal, light clove, caramel, honey, bread, and herbal earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice balance and complexity of malt and fruity/spicy esters; with a good malt/spiciness balance and no cloying sweetness present after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a slick and lightly syrupy mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with hardly any warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice Belgian strong pale. Very nice balance and complexity of fruity/spicy flavors with malt sweetness; and very smooth to sip on. This was probably quite old given the caramelized maltiness from age, but it held up very well. A very enjoyable offering.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle 75cl.Unclear medium yellow color with a average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, white head. Aroma is light to moderate malty, spicy, moderate yeasty, coriander. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a average to long duration. Body is light to medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft. (050908)
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
100th Belgian rating. Pours a thick golden with no clarity and a small head. Aroma is strong on fruity yeastiness with citrus and apple sweetness, strong, sweet and very earthy. Taste is a bit herbal and grassy, which surrounds the creamy yeasty flavor, no fruit. A very drinkable beer with a real substantial feel on the cheeks. A nice beer but such a difference between aroma an taste which becomes way too herbal.
750mL, label has some yellow in it, St. Paul cross between snifter/tulip glass.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Hazy orange beer; good white head. Perfumed, some Curaçao and nutmeg in the nose. Very strange, nearly adstringent malt taste, followed by some fizzy, sweetish main taste, finishing in diacetyl (in a CAVE-AGED beer??). Slightly burning MF, surprisingly light body. I’m disappointed by this. The "bruin" is much more complex and subtle. This is just another dumb blonde. ( tasted under the experimental name of "Grottenbier Blond" )