Bruegel

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Steenberge
Style: Belgian Ale
Ertvelde, Belgium

In my last year of college I was amidst my falling in love with belgian beers and belgian style beers, I was presented at one point in a Dubuque liquor store with the opportunity of purchasing a six pack of this beer at a price that wasn’t remarkably outrageous or unaffordable for me at the time, but thrift and the unknown must have gotten the better of me and I opted for something less expensive and I had always kind of wondered if I made the right decision. That is to say that I’ve been waiting in a manner or speaking to try this beer for a number of years now. I was actually meaning to go get a bottle of this with a few other things at a store across town last weekend when my wife put the kibosh on the whole deal insisting that we could buy beer closer to home and that she wanted to go get some Chinese food as opposed to watching me poke around a beer store for half an hour. It was with great surprise and joy that I beheld a bottle of this ale in my good friend Dan’s hands when he came over to hang out/brew a batch of homebrew last evening. It’s not that I had great expectations for Bruegel, it was a long curiosity with the beer that piqued my excitement in seeing a bottle of it in my very kitchen. In all honestly my coming to terms with what something of an amber session ale from Van Steenberge probably offered to me sort of made me think that I had made the right decision years ago. This is to say that my expectations of the beer did not match my excitement over finally trying it, with one whiff both were quickly forgotten. The beer poured an unassuming enough orangish gold color with a small head, nothing exciting but it looked nice enough none the less. The aroma of this beer is easily the thing I liked the least about it, like weird burnt plastic, burnt caramel, butterscotch, with some floral notes present and some raw maltiness. This is the sort of thing that you would expect from a not quite failed first homebrew attempt, but far from my already wavering expectations of a beer from Van Steenberge. The flavor is a little better but where it lacks apparent infection and general disgusting characteristics it is alas very boring. The beer is lightly salty which is kind of cool in it’s own right and the caramel is just right, the beer is generally malty and has that dreaded diacetyl butteriness. The palate is thin and the carbonation leaves something to be desired. My score is pretty low, but I honestly feel like I’m being a bit generous here, this didn’t seem too great at all.

330 ml bottle from LCBO (part of gift pack). Pours a clear orange gold with moderate, slightly off-white head. Aroma of banana, caramel and cirtus. Taste is a little blander with fruit, caramel and light citrus. Somewhat watery. Nothing special.

Reviewed 11/19/2009 (bottle): Pours a clear golden yellow color body, huge off-white head, pretty lasting. Fruity aroma, some hay and farm-like notes. Floral and Belgiany too, but those notes need to be inhaled deeper. Some banana. Clean taste, some pilsner like taste, corn or vegetable, but not in a bad way. Refreshing. Light taste, thin palate. Not very complex. A little bite, but not very spicy. Kinda bland. Not as good as a Sierra Nevada or Bass.

(Bottle into tulip) Got this one as part of a 6 pack sampler from Brouwerij Van Steenberge. Poured a clear orange with a large white head that fell rather quickly. On the nose, you would think that this would be a very sweet beer, as the malt was heavy and there was a pleasant aroma that reminded me of raisins or dates. The taste, however, was rather sharp, and not really what I expected. There was a nice bite to it, and a little more of a bitter flavor, not near the sweetness of the nose, but not overpowering either. This was a nice crisp, refreshing offering and paired well with the spice I was having at the time.

330ml bottle from Brouwerij Van Steenberge sampler. Pours light amber with offwhite foamy head and nice lingering lacing. Aroma of sweet malt and dried fruit and figs. Flavor not as sweet as aroma hints at. Nice carbonation, slight bitter and dry finish.

I got as Christmas gift (Brouwerij Van Steenberge mix 6 pac). Honey blonde, not amber, small head. Aroma of sweet malted barley. Bland malted barley taste, water aftertaste with citrus notes. I know he’ll be better in this 6 pac!

living under a rock! .. Aroma: some honeycomb and Crunchie brand chocolate .. . medium low foam .. a very simple Belgian session .. . i love wings! .. . light tan gold .. pretty tasty, a little dusty but good, i bet on cask it would be quite nice ... it made Tony Shalhoub’s career...

Bottle 33. Clear amber beer with a heavy white head. Taste is very bitter but nice anyway with notes of malt, rosted, caramel and agrumes, a bit of citrus. The hops is nice and quite present and remains at the finish. A very pleasant beer, nice body, very drinckable and not too high in alcool. A unexpected nice experience.