Den Herberg Sodalitas

Brewed by Den Herberg
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Buizingen, Belgium

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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This easy and refreshing blonde seems to leave its spiciness to the hops and yeast. Bottle from trade with DerDoppelbock, back at Kerstbierfest I think. Saving it for better weather I guess. Pours a bright gold with thick, sticky white head. Looks pretty. Fruity nose. Lightly sweet flavor rolling into a serious enough bitterness and dry peppery finish, flowing from pinpoint carbonation. Nice.

Tap, at ZBF 2006. Gold, moderate white head and good condition. Gentle sweet malt aromas, soft and sweet in the mouth with a low background smokiness and a quite dry finish.

Bottle. Light light unclear light to medium yellow orange color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, white head. Aroma is light malty, toasted, light hoppy, flowers, moderate yeasty. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to lively. (021207)

Joost proudly shared his Sodalitas on both of my visits to De Heeren, so I was lucky to try it bottled and tapped. Out of the bottle, its golden apricot hue is crystalline and burgeoning with lively streams, effervescing to a thick white cloud above. Fresh noble hops are immediately apparent as the nose aggregates abounding tonalities of grain, fruit and spice. Familiar fragrances of bubble gum, banana, apricot and pear fill the air with excitement while hints of vanilla custard, toffee and nutmeg provide the anticipated complexity. Underlying wheat, acacia honey and butter form a triptych of secretive scents, sacrificed for those more salient aromas to exude. What emerges on the tongue, is a sense of unmitigated drinkability. Light wheat, hops and honey are at the base of a somewhat herbal concoction that includes thyme and fennel seed and finishes with a dry but enjoyable buttered popcorn flavor. Fizzy but soft in carbonation the texture matches those flavors wonderfully and the long satisfying hop bitterness leaves you parched and wanting more. Though the hop profile is refreshing and quite fashionable considering current Belgian trends, it lacks a balancing factor on the palate, a simple addition of complexity that would go leaps and bounds for the overall quality of this brew.

Draught at ZBF 06. Pours a clear golden with a white creamy head. Aroma is hoppy, malty and yeasty. Taste is bitter, grainy, malty, some spicy yeast. Medium mouthfeel and a long bitter aftertaste.

UPDATED: JUN 3, 2007 Bottle May 2007 - Golden body with a huge creamy white head, fine lacing, champagne like bubbles; Beautiful deep hoppy nose with elegant malty and yeast aromas to back it, very much like a trappist tripel with lots of hop; Soft big bubbled carbonation on full bitter body, deep and a little sweet; Very long spicy malty yeasty full and deep finish. Great fresh and complex beer. Draught at De Heeren... June 2006 (7-4-8-3-14=3.6) - Golden body, white head, laces; Very nice balanced nose with a little wheat banana and a little smoke; Very balanced pleasant body, into bitter fruity hoppy little dry finish. All the individual elements are nice, the combination is just a bit confusing.

Draft at ZBF. Gold bodied with a small white head. Nose is fruit, yeast and light flowers. Taste is floral and herbal with some fruit notes and light maltiness. Body is medium with a mild carbonation. Finishes with more herbal and hop notes, light fruits and yeast.

At ZBF 2006, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium White head. Hazy, yellow body. Fruity Nose of yeast, raspberries. Lightly acidic, lightly bitter initial flavour. Heavily bitter finish. Lightly to medium bodied. Not very convinving, neither very well balanced.

Slightly (cold) hazy golden beer; good white head, leaving textbook lace. Autumn leaves, oak galls, fresh herbs (hops and - stinging nettle?). Strange vegetable - greenery taste, weird herbs (dried sommer savoury?). Slightly sticky, grist-like MF, medium bodied. I have only one problem with this - what IS it? Differently put, what was the idea? I for one don’t dig it, but that is not saying it wouldn’t be interesting.