Radermacher Rader Blonde

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye du Val-Dieu
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Aubel, Belgium

A combination of beer with something as brandy. In belgium it is called jenever. A tastfull combination and good smell

Bottle. Golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is fruit, sweet, yeast, citrus. Flavour is fruit, sweet, yeast, citrus, orange, hint of of juniper. Exciting beer but too experimental. Still very good beer.

Bottled. A golden beer with lots of floaties and an off-white head. Citrusy nose with sweetness, tea and spices. Very citrusy flavor with soap and oranges. Full to medium body, soapy mouthfeel and a citrusy finish. It is a bit on the citrusy side, leading my thoughts to the refreshers used in urinals, but it is an ok beer. The juniper or genever was very subdued in my bottle. (070404)

Savannah, Ga. - Habersham Beverages, 11.2 oz bottle. Brilliant medium golden pour with lots of sediment floating about, silky white head, nice lace . Faint lemony aroma, hint of spice and soap. Here’s where things go wrong. Harsh flavor. Best before date not until 2009 - so doubt if it has gone bad. Tastes like dirty water and mildew. Maybe this is horseblanket? I don’t know. Now that I am reading the description - I see that it is juniper. Mouthfeel is slightly carbonated. Avoid - I poured this one out

The juniper flavor is so overpowering. There is no balance with that favor and the hops and malt.

Bottle: Cloudy straw, almost dirty, sediment floats about, large pillowy white head, nice lacing, very light carbonation.   Aroma is... how do I say it... disturbing!   This reminds me of a cross between pepto bismol and a urinal cake.   Perhaps a little mint mixed in.   Ugh... earthen urinal cake on top a bed of dandelions... yeah, wow... While it sounds totally disgusting, its still palatable.   Looked great, but the spices they used really don’t add to it.   I’m glad its only a 330ml.   Blech!   The Juniper is WAY too strong on this one.   Tone it down, and then we’ll talk.

From a caged corked 750 ml. bottle with a best before date, 06/06/09, a short blurb and serving instructions on the left side of label, sampled at cellar temperature in a tulip glass. Poured a slightly hazy golden orange with a foamy white head, decent retention, small amount of laced sticking. You can tell from the nose there are juniper berries in this, the piney woodiness, medicinal herbs, sweet orange blossoms with a dash of honey, and sugary malts that meshes with the alcohol at the edges of the aroma. Good carbonation and a crisp, dryish, smooth light bodied mouthfeel. The juniper berries jump out in the taste, pine wood, medicinal herbs, mint, limes, orange zest, a sweet sugary, honey maltiness, the alcohol is well masked and only appears in the taste at very end, and a dry herbal, minty, sweet malty finish. If you like juniper berries in beer, Rogue makes one, then you will enjoy this, a unique taste, a nice change of pace Belgian blonde ale.

This is learning by doing!! I only read the word Blonde - and was totally unprepared for this horrible experience. Both aroma and flavour is juniper with it’s characteristic piny notes. I like juniper in limited amounts in food, but this is too much - way too much....