Post
by Aleman » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:24 pm
Leffe Blonde Clone (AG #2) - Ian Magson
I was asked to try this some time ago by Ian, and let him know my thoughts, as he thought there ware issues with it . . . . This is what I thought
I don't think you have a lot to worry about, that was a very nice beer . . . Belgians are not my beer of choice but I certainly enjoyed yours.
Firstly you beer had been sat in the shed in the cold since you brought it over, and the yeast settled out fairly well . .. I dropped it into my kegereezer at -2 for 36 hours, and it certainly went cloudy with a heavy chill haze, but this dispersed on warming up to leave a much clearer beer . . . not sparkling but certainly not hazy. On opening the bottle I had the familiar Phssst! and smoking gun . . . but as the beer was highly carbonated (within style) it started to foam, and this disturbed the yeast sediment slightly (Time would fix that), but I quickly poured the beer into a large wineglass, and was greeted with a very estery aroma . . again within style, the head formed quickly but soon dissipated and the beer had a good rising bead. upon taking a good sniff there was certainly the bubblegum esters present, but nothing like DMS. An initial sip hit me with orange notes, but with the massive carbonation it was difficult to pick anything else out, so I used a syringe to knock the excess CO2 out of solution, and it was here that I detected a faint trace of butrytic acid in the aroma . .. this is certainly a flaw, but subsequent tasting didn't reveal it so I suspect it is below the sensitivity threshold.
The beer was very smooth, very little hop flavour, and low (very low) bitterness, the orange notes were pronounced, and so was the Bubblegum in the aroma (its a yeast characteristic). I did detect a faint peppery spiciness in the after taste which was long lasting. Also the tongue appeared to become 'coated' which helped to prolong the finish.
All in all a good beer and certainly within the style guidelines apart from the colour which was not 'blonde' I would say that the water treatment wasn't too much of a problem. I notice that you said that it tastes bitter, certainly was not my impression, which was of a smooth malty beer. It could be that the excess yeast lead you to think this, I have had similar results drinking beer with a lot of yeast they seem very bitter but once clear the bitterness smooths out.
All in all a beer to be relatively proud of well done.
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