De Koninck

Brewed by Brouwerij De Koninck
Style: Belgian Ale
Antwerpen, Belgium

The aroma is like biscuits, pears, raisins, yeast (basement like), and caramel. The appearance is amber/gold with huge chunks of yeast floating about and a small head. The flavor is only lightly bitter with all the elements from the aroma but not as much sweetness as it should have. The palate is thin. Overall it’s pretty good but the massive amount of floating yeast, the weak aroma, and thin palate hurt it a lot.

It seems a bit precocious for any one beer to be called the “king”, but it’s downright rude for a beer to assume the throne itself. I don’t care how much elegance, tradition or primogeniture the beer claims a right to; no one could be the king of them all, especially something like De Koninck which is much more appropriate as a jester than as a self-professed member of regal stock. Still, it’s no serf, and makes a pretty presentable beer to people who wouldn’t know the difference between itself and something more elite, like Orval or a Rochefort. The occasion on which I had it was at the famous Denver tap house Falling Rock. My friend desperately wanted a bottle of his faux-highness on tap, even though I remonstrated vociferously. Still, he was a guest of sorts, and would have been rude to insist he drink the better stuff when his heart was wrapped around De Koninck, so we agreed to split a glass. It reverberated a warm, deep red in the pale light of the taphouse. The head cast an illusion, looking almost pale green like a light pistachio shell. Between fusillades of words coming from across the table I took casual whiffs of De Koninck, detecting raspberries, blackberries, watermelon, apple, banana and, a little later, Bosc pear. Though it did present itself as an ornately fruity beer, the taste failed to live up to the aroma’s promises. De Koninck’s flat and watery texture fails to help the semi-sweet apple, malts and caramel flavors to make for a palatable drink. The character by itself doesn’t make for a bad beer, but it doesn’t make it a good beer either. I’d expected something more drinkable from a tap at Falling Rock, but I guess you need riff-raff to make the real fine stuff shine.

This is one of worst beers I have tried in a while. This beer has a great rep but I just thought it had very little flavor and its hops were all out of whack. Its possible I got a skunk bottle but I am not giving it another try to find out.

(Draught at Akkurat, Stockholm, 20 June) Colour is amber, with a foamy, lasting head. Nose is spicy, slightly fruity and yeasty. Taste is malty and spicy, with hints of yeast and caramel. A bit drier than expected and with a slightly metallic bitterness in the finish. Soft mouthfeel. An ok and reliable beer, but not really exciting. Go for the draught version rather than the bottled if possible.

Not impressed by any standard. Where is my money??? The unfiltered residue is disturbing---much moreso than a Hefe. Questions if actual ’crystal clear water’ is used or if it is from the sewers of Belgium. Not even worth trying once. I’m tempted to pour this out but at least there is some sort of unnatural taste that, I believe, will prevent me from finding the drain.

Draft pint
Consumed at Bierspeciaalcafe De Paas, Den Haag, May 2006
Clear dark amber color, large head. Lightly sweet, bland, pale, malty, simple semi-sweetness and nothing else to offer. Glad I did not pay for this one.

Bottle. Pours clear golden color; white head disappears quickly. Smells rather like Grolsch. Nice wheat aftertaste. Not really what I expected though.

An amber Belgian ale. Oily body, sticky palate. Malty sweet and fairly one-dimensional.