Duyck Jenlain Bière de Printemps

(330ml bottle thanks to mar) Apparently I am rating this beer higher than everyone else, but I loved it. Pour is very pale with some bubbles, extremely flavorful despite the color. Nose has a tart smell (cherries?) and funky. Lightly spicy bite here, fruity but not identifiable, hoppy with no bitter finish.

Bottle. Clear yellow. Color with a frothy white head. Nice, sharp aroma of apples yeast, dough, honey and spices. Light fruity flavor with some sweet beady notes.

Lightly spicy, grassy, herbal, minty aroma with mild barnyard character apparent. Hazy blonde body is topped by a low but lasting, fine bubbled white head that recedes eventually to cover with some patchy lacing. Grassy herbal hops over fresh clean malt profile with a little bit of funk and spice in the aftertaste. Very dry medium body with moderate carbonation. Bottle (BB 01/2006, Half Time, Sep-05) enjoyed with MartinT, Olivier MTL, Rastacouere and Siroy.

Bottle has 01/2006 printed, assuming it’s a best before date? Clear golden in color with a huge white head made of tiny bubbles. Hard to call it lacing when the inside of the glass is completely covered in film. Very floral aroma, reminds me of the SH de fleurs in a way, hard to describe in exact detail, but a sweet, almost perfume like aroma. With some farmhouse mustiness and only the faintest hint of skunk in the background. Sweet initial flavor, some malt noticeable, but more of a fruity ester sweetness. Flowers and lemon, somewhat grassy, and a nice farmhouse mustiness towards the finish. Aftertaste lingers for a second or two, then becomes completely dry. Even with the all the carbonation, it still retains a nice creamy mouthfeel. Really enjoyed this beer and can’t believe the average?

75cl bottle from Auchan, Calais. Oh bugger, someone has gone and brewed a beer into a style that I find completely entrancing. Like the Noels, the French breweries all look as though they produce a Printemps as well. This is so much better than the standard blondes due to the stronger influence of hops. In no way is this beer perfect for everyone, but for my taste buds it is wonderful. Gold colour thick white head. Yeast and woody hops aroma, citrus fruit all over the creamy mouth and then sharp hop on end. After cycling home from work, this was perfect. I must organise more meetings in Calais.

330ml bottle from the LCBO (packaged completely differently, 100% different label, the one in the picture is astronomically cooler looking). Pours a really nice gold colour, bright and sparkling, with a small surface film. It looks identical to champagne. Aroma: Grassy hops big time, some weird funk, sweet fruity malts, esters. Flavour: Wow, is that ever, odd, but delicious in its oddness. Loads of the funk, hard to describe, but it has basically all the flavours I tend to absolutely love in beer, which is for some reason difficult to describe in words, but everything from the aroma is there. Barnyard, wet hay, straw (a little), almost like a fruit basket with the fruity esters coming in. The aftertaste is like some sort of malty toffee candy. It has a great creamy mouth-feel to it as well. Wow, I’ve never had anything like this before, but this beer is totally fantastic IMHO. I will definitely buy more. Also, the more I drink it, the more evident the grassy pilsener-like hops become.

750 ml bottle. Golden clear in color with a nice white head. Malty and hoppy aroma. Earthy, grassy. Malty hoppy flavor. Smooth tasting. Crisp and refreshing. Light. Well balanced. Dry. Very nice beer. Enjoyable.

Bottle. LIght golden beer with a big white head. Light spicy aroma with a bit of sweetness. Light spicy flavor with sweet malt and light fruitiness. Lingering spiciness. Nice velvety mouthfeel.