Category Archives: Belgium

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Alvinne, Wild Ale

Alvinne Batch #1000

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Brewery: Brouwerij Alvinne
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.7%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Blond Sour Ale. Sweet 2/5, Sour 3/5 & Bitter 1/5

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Batch 1000, a milestone on our craft beer journey. We made a long boil blond sour and barrel aged it on American oak St-Emilion (red wine) barrels. This is an exclusive project for Beer Seeker, a collaboration between the magazine Belgian Beer & Food and online beershop Etre Gourmet.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.1
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml bottle, with a best before date of November 2023. Poured into an Alvinne teku glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy copper orange colour with a one finger off white head that had decent retention while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Tart, vinous, grape, cherry and oak, with hints of funk, vanilla and balsamic.
Taste: Sour, tart, vinous, grape, cherry, oak, vanilla, light funk, and notes of vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable complex sour with nice vinous and barrel character.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Alvinne, Sour Ale

Alvinne Hard Brett-xit

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Brewery: Brouwerij Alvinne
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Sour Ale
Other Notes: Sweet 3/5, Sour 3/5 & Bitter 3/5

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Superblend of various barrels and fruits. Oak aged. Bitter, sweet & sour with a touch of regret.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.83
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 330ml bottle, with a best before date of October 2023. Poured into an Alvinne teku glass. I knew this was a crazy gusher from past experience, so I quickly opened it but yet still felt the need to have a look first. The uneventful slow lag of a passing second, suddenly became a fast reacting chemical reaction, and I quickly poured it into the glass before I could lose more than a third of the bottle like last time!
Appearance: A slightly hazy rusty orange brown colour with an one finger beige head that had decent retention while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: A Flanders Red character, fruity, mixed berries, cherry, oak, plum, and a splash of vinegar.
Taste: Moderate sour and sweet, fruity, caramel, lightly tart, cherry, mixed berries, plum, oak, with notes of vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice, balanced and enjoyable to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Boon x Mikkeller ApS, Lambic - Gueuze

Boon x Mikkeller Goût Américain Oude Geuze

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Brewery: Brouwerij Boon x Mikkeller ApS
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Gueuze)
Other Notes: 100% Boon Lambic. Collaboration between Boon and Mikkeller

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Acetic sting, an off-flavor to us, an acquired taste for others. Such as with this blend of 1, 2 & 3 yr old lambic now, in the past some champagne bottles would be given the name “Goût Americain” (“American taste”) when they were typified by a high amount of volatile acidity. With this in mind, we developed this limited edition both high in acidity while maintaining a delicate balance that is both complex and fruity. Pair this special blend with sharp cheeses or simply as an aperitif.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.99
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle with a best before date of 19th February 2039. Poured into a Boon stemmed glass.
Appearance: A mostly clear golden colour with a two finger white head that had dissipated quite quickly while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Funky, barnyard, oak, straw, grass, with hints of apple, lemon peel and apricot.
Taste: Moderate sweetness and acidity, white wine, grapes, oak, straw, lemon, with hints of funk and a touch of sourness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: It was sweeter and less funkier in taste than I expected, but still refreshingly enjoyable with nice fruity notes of grape and lemon.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Timmermans-John Martin N.V., Lambic - Fruit Sweetened

Timmermans Sloe Lambicus

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Brewery: Brouwerij Timmermans-John Martin N.V.
Country: Belgium
ABV: 3.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit Sweetened)
Other Notes: Canned Lambic, sweetened with sugar

Brewer Description: (from website) From its entrance in the glass, we already reveal the maturity of its basic fruit. Its dark ruby color announces many tasty satisfactions reminding that its base is the blackthorn, the fruit which exposes in maturity. Associated for the first time with a brewing fermentation, and married to a young lambic, thus acid, this beer ends in a rich taste browsing 3 delicious stages, from its introduction in mouth. It reveals successively its freshness by a powerful nose, a fruity flavor moderately spreaded with an acidity become modest and conjugated with a conclusion reminding its unpublished basic fruit.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 2.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 2.8

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 15th February 2020. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A purplish ruby red colour with a two finger pinkish head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, candy, dessert, blueberry, vanilla, berry soda.
Taste: Sweet, hard candy, blueberry, vanilla, blueberry milkshake, berry soda, jammy, syrupy, way too sweet.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied, moderate carbonation, way too sweet such that it was uncomfortable.
Overall: Sweetened Lambic with sugar added, which is not my thing, as its generally too sweet for my palate, and this one was definitely way too sweet… so sweet that it was uncomfortable on my palate. Found out that sloe is blackthorn, but I haven’t tried the fruit before. In this case it seems to have resembled blueberry in aroma and taste. Very uncomplex for a fruit lambic, but it was the over sweetness that was the main downfall.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Timmermans-John Martin N.V., Lambic - Fruit Sweetened

Timmermans Strawberry Lambicus

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Brewery: Brouwerij Timmermans-John Martin N.V.
Country: Belgium
ABV: 4%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit Sweetened)
Other Notes: Canned Lambic, sweetened with sugar

Brewer Description: (from website) For anyone who finds strawberries irresistible, Timmermans Strawberry evokes the fragrance of long sunny days. Its strawberry flavour will have you wrinkling your nose in delight with each sip. Its luminous colour and its fruity freshness are a treat for taste-buds and eyes alike. A totally juicy experience. Timmermans Strawberry Lambicus is brewed by adding natural juice to lambic beer, a blend that is then fermented in oak barrels. After which it is bottled.

Its aroma evokes the perfumes of a lovely summer’s day. Its strawberry flavour confirms the nose’s impression, without being over-sweet, and is enhanced by a real feeling of freshness, recalling those tiny green granules that are found around ripened strawberries. Its taste is consistent and spreads very quickly throughout the mouth, finishing on a note that is fruity rather than sweet.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.64
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 25th December 2019. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: It poured a slightly hazy reddish pink orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Strawberry hard candy.
Taste: Sweet, strawberry hard candy, strawberry, syrupy, jammy, strawberry soda, too sweet.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied, moderate carbonation, too sweet.
Overall: Sweetened Lambic with sugar added, which is not my thing, as its generally too sweet for my palate. But the strawberry aroma much resembles that of strawberry hard candies which I love. Taste as I said was too sweet, but the strawberry flavours were ok. Very uncomplex for a fruit lambic.