Achel 8 Blond

Brewed by Brouwerij der Trappistenabdij De Achelse Kluis
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Hamont-Achel, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Poured a clear golden color for me. Nice lingering head, not much aroma, but what was there was good. Flavor is better than I expected, better than the Bruin, I was pleselantly suprised with this beer. I good blond!

I was surprised to find a bottle of this here in Portland, OR. Last I had heard the beers from this brewery were only available on draft at or near the source. I’m not complaining though! This was the only Achel beer that was available. This beer has a nice clear golden color and and a mild fruity/spicy nose. The first flavor I got was a medium sweet malt flavor quickly followed by a decent bitterness. It has a nice fruity, bitter aftertaste that lingers. I like the firm malt backbone that this beer has. It seems to have a bit more residual sweetness than other beers of this style. Even so, I wouldn’t call this beer sweet. It packs a pretty good bitter punch to balance it out. This is a tasty golden ale. Now if we can just get them to brew a higher gravity darker, richer brew...

Bottle, at Pub Italia, Ottawa. Beautiful golden colour, bit cloudy. Insanely thick creamy head, to eat with a spoon. Taste is creamy with hints of banana.

Bottle. Pours beautiful clear very big head with medium sized bubbles and takes a while to subside. Nice yeasty nose if you like that stuff, and clean yeasty taste and lively, full feel on the palate. Nice finish. It’s a very good beer, true to the style. Doesn’t taste as strong as it is... so it sneaks up on you.

Bottle, yeast swirling in the dark golden haze. Named as Achel Blond, no number 5 or 8. Fantastic aroma. Smooth and robust with notes of sweet fruits. Quality, drinkable, but not elite.

Very pleasant. Golden honey color, slightly cloudy with moderate head. The head collapsed to 1 mm pretty quickly, but then lasted the entire glass. Flavor was a great clovey peppery mix, followed by a slight but consistent metallic flavor. (This detracted from flavor and overall score.) Flavors and aroma were consistent through entire bottle. Carbonation was present throughout without being to fizzy. I'd happily drink it again, but I wouldn't spend the $9.00 it cost me at my local retailer.

My least favorite of theTrappists. Overwhelming orange zest and some type of herb. Maybe oregano. Strong spice as well. A good beer, but I just don’t think it stands as well as the other Trappists.

Poured into open lip Belgian beer glass (Duvel) glass. Super carbonated - foam right to the top! Rapid carbonation flow continues to rise from middle of glass. Beautiful appearance. Bright nose...esters don’t have much to hide behind. Nice flavor. Continues to get better and better as beer opens up. I still haven’t found my palate for the light Belgians compared to the dark. This would be perfect as an afternoon sipper on a summer patio.

Bottle. Pours hazy golden with a fine creamy lasting head & lacings. Aroma & tasrte is of yeast, spices, malts & orange fruits. Body is medium. A bit overcarbonated. Long end!

A head and colour like Orval but unfortunately doesn’t quite have the taste to match. Very bitter and a little weak on flavour. This is all a little harsh though, I’m only comparing it to other trapist beers. Still a very impressive brew.