Westvleteren Blond

Brewed by Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus
Style: Belgian Ale
Westvleteren, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

Decent beer. Bottle pours yellow color with huge foamy white head with great lacing. Aroma light fruits, spices, citrus. Taste light fruits and spices - really tastes like a somewhat watery tripel. Alcohol not apparent. Nice smooth and carbonated palate. Clean finish with slight bitterness. Not a bad beer, but really none of the legendary Westvleteren mystique here.

Belgian beers, especially Trappist beers (made by monks) are known for being intense, complex, sippers. But why can’t they make a lighter, more direct, and refreshing brew for casual drinking? I guess that’s the idea behind Westvleteren Blond. It’s got the basic characteristics of the Trappist ales, but without the intensity or prerequisites that come with most beers of the sort.

NOTE: Of all the Westvleteren beers, the Blond is not meant to be aged (according to the monastery’s website). The bottle I drank was purchased in February of 2009, although the original buyer isn’t sure when it was brewed and bottled. It’s possible I was not drinking this beer the way it was meant to be served.

APPEARANCE AND AROMA

I poured an 11.2oz bottle into a Trappist chalice. The beer is lively and bubbly with a bright orange/yellow body with tons of tiny Belgian bubbles streaming up from the bottom of the glass. Although the beer is not intended for extended cellaring, it is bottle-conditioned as plenty of yeast can be seen in the bottle and even leaves a brown stain in the otherwise bright white, fluffy, head.

The aroma is a little weak. I notice a typical Belgian blond scent not unlike Duvel of light fruit and yeast, but there also seems to be a touch of skunkiness (again, this could be due to the age of my bottle).

TASTE

When drinking a Trappist beer one of the first things you notice is how much flavor they deliver immediately. Westvleteren Blond is a bit different than the others as its flavor doesn’t make itself known right away, but shows up in the finish and aftertaste. As it crosses my palate I get hints of fruit and yeast, but it’s otherwise mild. What’s interesting is that it’s actually very refreshing while it’s in my mouth.

The majority of the flavor comes on the backend. I notice three distinct green fruits: white grape; Granny Smith apple and green pear. The only caveat is I have to reach for those flavors. Perhaps if I were drinking a fresher bottle these flavors would be more robust and more satisfying. As the beer warms the fruitiness becomes a bit stronger, but the yeast presence becomes drier. There’s a lingering dry bitter aftertaste from this beer, but it’s easily ignorable.

DRINKABILITY

Although my frame of reference with Trappist beers is rather limited, I would be surprised if I encounter a monk’s brew lighter and/or more refreshing than Westvleteren Blond. The first few sips have that peppery mouthfeel Belgian beers are known for, but it quickly mellows out and becomes soft and pillowy. The mild palate is certainly refreshing, and at only 5.8% ABV this is practically a "Trappist Lite" brew. If I had the means to buy this beer in bulk I would love to offer it up at summer picnics as I think it would pair well with lighter fare or just work as a great lawnmower beer.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While I wouldn’t honestly consider Westvleteren Blond anything mind-blowing, it does impress (and slightly amaze) me that a beer this light and drinkable would be a Trappist brew.

NOTE: Watch the video version of this review at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQLZ9Rd8h6Q

Bottle: Best before: 29-03-2002. Nice small white foamy head on top of a hazy yellow orange beer. Smell is mostly honey with some malts and sugars. Taste is again a lot of honey; malts, light sweet, hint of hops. Nice bitter but not too heavy. Well balanced, low carbo and a very nice hoppy, flower and dry-ish aftertaste.

Pours a cloudy pale yellow with a dense white head that lasted the entire glass. Aroma- lots of citrus, grapefruit, dust, pine, and slight funk. Intense hallertauer(?) hop aroma. Taste- Light to medium body with HUGE funk and citrusy fruits. Finish - beautiful hop bitterness, crisp, clean, dry and wonderful funk on the back of the tongue. A nearly flawless beer.

Bottle. Large white foamy head over a hazy yellow gold body. Excellent lacing. The beer has a very clear hop aroma and taste-just like taking a handfull of hopbells from the hopfields adjacent to the abbey in your hand and crushing them, with a subtle bitter sweet finish. Medium bodied, spritzy. Great beer.

Bottle @ In De Vrede, Westvleteren. What a splendid place to enjoy a Westy, right next to the monastery! On the other hand, it is also the ONLY place to (legally) enjoy a Westy served in proper glassware in a pub, so... Regardless, I had been looking forward to this missing link among the Westy family, so expectations were high. Although I must confess I think the style ("blonde") itself has its limitations, this is truly an exemplary specimen of the style. The glass comes with an inch-thick white foamy head, covering a perfect straw golden body. Nose is also extremely pleasant and well-balanced, with honey, tarty yeast, citric notes and hints of floral apricot. The first sip reveals why Westvleteren has been on top of the charts for so long: the blend of flavors, mostly analogue to the aromatic profile, is so smoothly blended that the only discernible flavor is a bitter, grassy hop aftertaste. Otherwise, this is a blended orgasm of the otherwise typical "Belgian blonde" tastes; truly a blissful composition of what the genre has to offer. Major thumbs up once again for the most elusive and exclusive brewery in the world. :-)

Pours a slightly cloudy, soft yellow color with a thick and foamy white head on top. The aroma is a bit understated, but prominent notes of yeast and citrus are still easy to notice. The flavor is bright and cheerful, yet earthy, with a combination of lemony citrus, a mild yeasty twang, and a dry sweetness. The texture is the best part, though, with an initial effervescent punch to the tip of the tongue that somehow seems to disappear into an unexpected smoothness. It finishes dry and clean, but the result is light-and-airy rather than crisp-and-refreshing.

Cap dated xx.09.05, so, this is a 6 year old bottle. Have had this one fresh before, but tasting an aged one should be interesting. Thanks for a great extra, Greg! A: The pour is the typical hazy golden straw color with a fluffy white head. S: The nose is very floral and sweet, very honey-like to be frank. A nice orange note to it as well. A bit of yeast and perhaps some light fruit and spice esters. T: Honey is definitely the primary flavor here, which is a stark contrast to a fresh bottle. Great honey, orange, and floral sweetness that is quite refreshing, actually. M: The body is light with a crisp carbonation to it. Quite light on the tongue like you would expect. D: I think I might actually like this aged version better than the fresh ones that I have tried. A really big difference in terms of flavor, and a beer that you generally would not recommend cellaring for this long, but I think it worked very nicely.