Barbar Belgian Honey Ale

Brewed by Brasserie Lefebvre
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Rebecq-Quenast, Belgium

Draught at TJ’s: Aroma of butter with a slight hint of pale malts. Wheat??? Poured gold in color with a medium-sized, dense, white head that diminished but lasted throughout. Lightly hazy. Sparkling. Medium to heavily sweet flavor. Tastes of fruit, slight yeast, marzipan, and sugar. Honey??? Light body. Thin, lightly dry texture. Soft carbonation. Sweet, caramel and sugar finish. This is a honey beer? 8%ABV is well hidden.

HOARY BANAL BEER ! This beer smells of barely anything on popping and little or no carbonation. Even through the early taste I really couldn’t taste the honey. It kept threatening but didn’t deliver. The beer is smooth and strength well hidden, and pretty nice, but could do better .. and of course taste more of honey

Bottle from Belgium Beers, Antwerp. A two-finger dense offwhite head resting on a golden colored body with good clarity. Acidulous, honey-ish fruit aroma, quite inviting actually. Taste has a pleasant, discreet, fairly sweet honey flavor, fortunately not so cloiyng and overdone as feared. Light wheaty, with a mild spicy fruitiness beneath. Filling. Thick, yet smooth mouthfeel. Faint honey, wheat and crisp fruitiness in the finish. I like it a lot.

2 versions are available in Quebec’s imaginary country. PART 1: The Lefebvre version. Bought with 7 other Lefebvre beers in a package sold 26,95$ at SAQ. 33cl bottle. Sweet and spicy aroma, a lot of spices in the taste, honey sweetness comes in second, still perceptible in the after-taste. Reminded me of Unibroue 2004, only in a much crappy version, with a lot more damn coriander. The rating is for this original version. PART 2: The RJ version, which I had immediately after the previous one. 3,79$ for a 660ml bottle. Color is less translucid. Honestly, at the place I bought it, it might be a few years old... Aroma is less sweet, more spicy (damn it), getting almost displeasing. Wo! It is a very different taste, dryer, hoppier, fruitier and spicier than the european imported version. Everything seems more intense, here, except for the sweetness, which is a good thing. In fact, there is here only notes of honey, not an aggressive domination. More complex than the other, I definitely believe it was aged (probably in a refrigerator...). Very tongue-tingling. I might re-rate with a recent brew but this is a surprise after the deception of the first one. 5-4-8-3-15

A bottle tasted at Kaisla. White head. Pale hey coloured. Sweet taste with mild hoppiness. Average carbonation. Slight sourness. Some toffee in the taste.

Honey and some coriander scents. Medium carbonated head with a golden body. Honey, orange peel and coriander were the main flavors. Palate was shortly lively, mostly creamy. Aiight.

Honey in nose and malt. This was brewed by Brasseurs RJ in Quebec. I found the taste of alcohol overpowering and drowned out a lot of the taste and palate from the sharpness of the taste. I hope this isn’t the same with the original.

Bottle. Poured gold and bubbly with a moussy head. Aromas of honey, flowers, cereal, wheat, and orange muffins with a slight caramel note. Very prominent honey and citrus flavors in a wheaty off-sweet cereal malt base, with some herbal and yogurt essences. A bit sweet for my taste, but OK.