t Smisje Blond

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Belgian Ale
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

Any first impressions?
-A thin veil of head protects the murky yellow beige.
-Citrusy leafiness and minty spices form a curious and underdeveloped aroma.
-Yeasty simplicity and citrusy fruitiness are clumsily linked by milkiness.
-Millions of bubbles override the lean maltiness.

What if you dig deeper?
-Lemonade undercurrents are evoked, helped by a watery passage.
-The doughy yeast finish nears astringency.
-It would benefit from some malty crunch to display the citrusy spices, methinks.
-Rather refreshing, but this is yet another awkward bit of eccentricity from Regenboog which fails to reach me.

Bottle; no date.

Muddy gold, gentle white head. A very yeasty nose, strangely spicy and hard to decorticate. Its base pils malt comes out quite grainy and finishing rather weird in the aftertaste, with a little astringency. Mild milkiness suggests coriander, while orangey/lemony citrusyness provides a little evasion from the raw yeast and timid malt profiles. Light-medium bodied, big bubbled very active carbonation. White raisin notes do show up in the finish and arbour a slight tannic tang.

Boy oh boy,what the hell happened here? Upon opening it I was rewarded with some very nice spicy pear aromas but after one taste I thought I would vomit. It was like someone had soaked a very old used Band-Aid and made berr from it . Really friggin’ nasty

33cl Bottle: Pours a hazy orange color with a light head and adequate lacing. The nose is ripe with some yeast and citrusy malt notes. A touch of citric hops and...lime blossoms? Weird. The flavor is dry and a bit thin with some zesty yeast and continued "belgian-ness". Finish is so-so. A bit of a let down after the clever nose. Eh, it’s a belgian ale.

Poured a hazy light yellow color with a small white head. Yeasty and fruity aroma with notes of apples and spice. Sweet yeasty flavor with some more fruity notes.

33cl bottle from Bier Tempel, Brussels, Belgium: pours orange yellow with a medium sized white fluffy head. Hop aroma with slight fruit. Flavor is again a little chemical. Must be the water. Moderately hoppy and quite dry. Slight fruit in the taste. Big carbonation. Finish is very dry.

Bottle. Large white fizzy head with virtually no lacing, carbonated, hazy, and a straw yellow hue. Nose was floral, fresh bouquet of flowers, sweet, and citrus. Flavor was sweet, citrus, hops, and some spicy notes. Mouthfeel was smooth and thin. Light body.

Very pleasent yeasty and strong aroma with flowery, herbal, and lemony hints; pours with a hazy, straw colored body yielding a tight, dense head; flavor does not follow the nose: subtle musty and lighty malty up front, pleasent medicinal pheonols and a dry, somewhat soapy, herbal and flowery, hoppy and lighty bitter finish; note very strong flavored or very exciting, but quite decent.