Hello there Hivers and beer lovers! Time for the next #BeerSaturday!
Two of my friends, real beer lovers, and people with time (because they're retired), run a beer tasting afternoon every two weeks, where they usually have three beers to taste for a group of about 15 regulars, all beerlovers (and retired).
For two years I joined their course, until from the end of last year I started to spend more and more of my free time in Spain, where my wife lives.
But they didn't forget me, as a beer lover in heart and soul, and they always bring their beers to my home so I can enjoy them and share my score with them.
The last tasting was already two weeks ago, and so one day I received a package with beer at my doorstep.
Among them was a Valeir Blond. A beer that has been brewed since 2004 by Brouwerij Contreras, a brewery in Gavere, not far from Ghent, and founded in 1818.
Since 2004, a Valeir Blond has been brewed there, a top-fermented beer with secondary fermentation in the bottle and also in the barrel. It is a blond specialty beer, where dry-hopping is used during the brewing process.
The beer is available in 33cl bottles and also in 30 liter barrels.
The alcohol content is only 6.5%, which invites you to enjoy this beer also on a sunny day on a summer terrace!
I tasted the beer from a bottle, a cask would be too much, and well chilled from the refrigerator.
Poured out according to the rules of the art, of course, but I do prefer to taste with the loosened yeast pouring into the glass with it.
In terms of color, it is an orange-blond beer, very clear as long as you do not add yeast. When the yeast goes into the bottle, then of course you get a cloudy beer. But I like that! Pure nature!
On the beer a nice big white head, which however seems to disappear quickly, although I always pay attention to a neat, clean and degreased glass.
In the nose I discover hay, grass, apricot and banana. A lot of the yeast is present in the aroma.
The taste is slightly fruity, sweet, with a balance between apple and apricot, and light to medium grassy bitterness, weakly spicy with a yeasty and hoppy touch. A sour note of lemon in the background.
In the flavor I do recognize the Sterling hops used.
The beer has a dry, grassy and earthy, hoppy finish. A bit spicy and yet slightly yeasty.
A medium body with a smooth texture and a powerful carbonation.
With its 6.5% alcohol, this is a refreshing blond beer, a typical Belgian Ale, although with a modern touch. Very pleasant refreshment!
Have a nice weekend everyone!