UPDATED: JAN 6, 2024 Newish abbey beer (in blonde and brown as usual - I bet there is a tripel on the way too), named after the St. Michael's Abbey in Antwerp and commercialized through the Aldi supermarket chain, or at least that is where I found it. Egg-white, moussy, medium thick, somewhat frothy, irregularly lacing, stable head on a crystal clear (filtered) 'old golden' beer with deep pale orange hue, in fact darker than average for a blonde abbey ale, showing a steady column of head-feeding sparkling in the middle. Aroma of soggy cookies, honey, pear, touch iron but not over the top, some candyfloss, coriander seed, brioche, overcooked kale (DMS - but luckily remaining very vague), old potatoes, raw turnip, grass. Sweet onset but not too cloying and not overly bubblegummy, still outspoken banana, peach and pineapple esters though a bit 'shaved off' by the pasteurisation and filtering, sharply carbonated with very minerally effect lasting till the finish; slick, thinnish, supple body, the cooked smell of pasteurisation soon becoming clear enough retronasally, over a lean cereally body with less biscuity or cookie-like maltiness than I was hoping for based on colour - clearly this brew was made the old Belgian way, with white candi syrup replacing part of the malt, resulting in a thinned, superficial and simplistic core. Slight metallic notes along the way, clear spicy coriander seed in the finish and eventually a lightly grassy, superficial yet relatively effective hop bitter note, somewhat drying an otherwise sweetish finish. Still less sweet and 'bubblegummy' than I was fearing, I must admit; the big question here is of course whether this is an original recipe or simply an alias of Tongerlo Blond, Haacht's staple abbey beer since 1990: I coincidentally happen to have drunk Tongerlo Blond on New Year's Eve in some pub in Ghent and from what I remember, it was sweeter than this one, but otherwise very similar. The fact that this particular Tongerlo Blond sample came from a keg rather than a bottle could account for this difference in sweetness; I guess I should have a Tongerlo Blond right next to this one to see if there are any differences at all, but I suspect it will be exactly the same so in my mind, this St. Michel is a simple alias created for Aldi and nothing more. I will try to find out more about this and if I am right, I think a merging of this entry with Tongerlo Blond will be in order (same story for the brown St. Michel, no doubt)...
Earlier Rating: 7/15/2014 Total Score: 2.9
Abbey beer brewed for the German low-budget supermarket chain Aldi, originally by Riva, now by Haacht. Creamy white, medium thick head, golden blond colour; aroma straightforward, malty sweetish, honey, apple, pineapple, apricot, hint of vanilla, floral hops; taste equally straightforward (not to say simple), dominated by a sweetish, bit honeyish maltiness and rather weak, insufficient hop bitterishness in the finish.

UPDATED: JAN 26, 2021 Pite jakiś czas temu. Ocena w celu uzupełnienia profilu. https://www.instagram.com/czgr_

UPDATED: MAY 3, 2020 Bottle. Dark golden, clear, yellowish foam. Aroma: spicy, light malt, light spice, a little fruit and hops. Taste: ordinary, light malt, lollipops, a little alcohol and pears, light spice.

UPDATED: MAR 6, 2020 Chez Aldi Belgique. Apparence : ok liquide cuivré Nez : banane, malts Bouche : malts, coriandre, pain Pils pas mal, plate mais rafraîchissante.

Pours a hazy yellow color with a thick white head. Sweet, light spicy aroma. Medium body.

Sweet, toffee, yeasty, some fruit. It's pretty alright, nothing mind-blowing but enjoyable.

Ocena wystawiona na podstawie wspomnień z degustacji w ramach uzupełnienia profilu.

Bottle @ home shared by Inoven. Clear golden color with a medium sized white head. Aroma is malts, residual sugar. Taste malts, again a bit sweet and sugary. Tastes like a very simple and cheap made leffe to me. Drinkable but uninteresting imo.

Flesje gedeeld met Tomhendriksen en Benzai. Goudgeel bier met stevig wit schuim. Aroma is kruidig maar misschien is het de geur van de hop. Smaak is licht hoppig met een hint van sinaasappel. Nasmaak is iets hoppig.

Fles gedeeld door Inoven, geprobeerd met Benzai. Het is een goudgeel bier met een volle witte schuimkraag. Het heeft een wat zoete kruidige geur. De smaak is hoppig en kruidig.