Bush Blonde 

http://dubuisson.com/en-gb/beers/bush-blonde

Brewed by Dubuisson
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Pipaix, Hainaut,Belgium

Bush, a Belgian beer brand and the flagship product of the Dubuisson Brewery, located in Pipaix, a village near the Belgian town of Leuze-en-Hainaut in the Walloon Region of the country. 

An Independent brewery, using locally sourced yeast and fresh water from its own deep wells, with the hops and barley coming from the Czech Republic. 

In 1933, one year after Alfred and Amédée inherited their parents’ brewery, they decided to compete with the English who occupied a leading position on the market of strong beers. That is how the brothers created the Bush beer, with its 12% alcohol content. To compete they gave their beer an English sounding name. Dubuisson bière would be translated into English as Bush beer. However, in the United States, the beer is sold under the name “Scaldis” (the Latin name of the river Scheldt that flows through western Belgium).

It’s Amber Bush, created in 1933, is one of the oldest “special” Belgian beers and the most popular, and strongest, among Bush beers. Other selections include Bush Blonde, Christmas Bush and Luxury Bush.

Bush beers are sold in the UK and all over Western Europe, North America, Japan, Brazil and South Africa, and they have won a variety of different awards down through the years: World Gold Medal Selection in Amsterdam in 1992, gold medal and first place at the World Championship of Chicago in 1988, Gold medal at the World Beer Championships in Chicago in 2012. 

Review: 33cl bottle of Bush Blonde: ABV: 10.5%

The Bush Blonde, on the go since 1988, and introduced by Hugues Dubuisson on the 65th anniversary of the Bush Ambrée launched by his grandfather, Alfred. Considered to be one of the strongest beers from Belgium coming in at an alcoholic volume of 10.5%

A lot, and I mean a lot, of gas on the pour, a bit of a mess truth been told. Full of carbonation, resulting in a massive head and a beer that took a long time to settle.

It also was very murky looking, a lot of sediment in the bottom of the glass floating around, which looked a bit worrying and not at all appetizing. 

Head does die eventually to leave a small but decent looking head that maintains, and an orange looking beer. Minimal lacing.

Overall, it looks terrible! One of the worst I have seen. 

On the nose get a strong citrus and fruity smell.

Taste: initial taste, it was fucking horrible, a harsh alcohol taste, but once it settles down and I settled down myself from the shock, it is actually not too bad. Smooth enough for a 10% beer
Can feel the alcohol alright but quaffable enough and not overpowering, not hoppy.

Smooth enough, all things considering (all the carbonation)
Not hoppy. No bitter tastes. Yeah not bad
A lot of sweet malts, some sweet fruits, and yeast. 

Overall this beer tastes a million times better than it looks, and after you get over the initial hit of all the strong smells and taste, it eventually is a beer to savour. 

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La Goudale Biere 

http://brasseurs-gayant.com/

Brewed by Les Brasseurs De Gayant
Style: Strong pale ale
Douai, France

Brewed in Douai, a small city in the north of France, by the Gayant Brewers.

La Goudale, a blonde beer, is made with a recipe dating back to the middle ages, and also uses specially flavored hops carefully chosen from Flanders, has been brewed since 1994.

The Goudale got its name from the 14th century, where all good beers were called “Goudale” (Good Ale). 

The brewery have many brands such as Amadeus, Tequieros, La bière du Démon, St Landelin but their main product is La Goudale.

La Goudale is sold widely in supermarkets in the North of France and has won numerous awards down through the years, most notably gold at the World Beer Challenge in Portugal, 2014. 

Review: 50cl Can of La Goudale Biere: ABV: 7.2% 

Coming in a very interesting shiny can that had a lot of distinctive black lettering. Stands out, even if its not obvious what exactly it all means!

On appearance got a hazy amber orange colour that produced a pretty large frothy white head, which does die over time but maintains overall, albeit small. Some lacing. Nothing special to look at.

Smells of caramel and the usual blond aroma of yeasts, sweet malts, grains and with a bit of citrus, nothing special.

No hanging around with this beer, on initial taste you can immediately get the alcohol, straight in with an aggressive taste………lots of yeast and citrus lightning up the taste-buds!

But no real discernible after taste. All in the front taste.

Not nice, too harsh on the palate. Very bitter. Fuck me, its hard. Disgusting even!

Second can much more manageable. Deep tasting hops. Sweet Malts.
Tastes much better. A slow burner.

Creamy bodied.
In the end I kind of liked it, don’t know if it was the alcohol kicking in and the initial shock with the first can but it was ok, albeit the second can, similar to a Belgian strong pale ale.

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Pelforth Brune 

pelforth.fr

Brewed by Pelforth (Heineken)
Style: Brown Ale
Mons-en-Baroeul, France

Pelforth is a French brewery from Mons-en-Barœul, not far from the city of Lille and the Belgian border, in the North of France.

First established in the early 1900’s by three brewers from Lille, Louis Boucquey, Armand Deflandre and Raoul Bonduel, it was originally called Pelican after a popular dance at the time, the image of the animal still adorning the bottles of today. In 1972 the name was changed to Pelforth and in 1988 the small brewery was bought by the Dutch brewing giant, Heineken. 

Pelforth now produce over twenty varieties of beers, including seasonal ones, but it’s their Pelforth Blonde and Pelforth Brown (Brune) that are their big sellers, both widely available all over France. 

A recent re brand, initiated by Heineken, has seen the traditional pelican symbol on its red label replaced by a more up to date pelican style, and highlighting the various tastes of the beer rather than that its just another dark bitter beer, hopefully appealing more to the fairer sex. 

Review: big 65cl bottle of Pelforth Brune: ABV: 6.5% 

Coming in a pretty nice looking 65cl bottle with a swing cap

The appearance was of a nice enough dark brown colour with ruby red highlights that had a head which reduced dramatically in size. 

Some decent lacing but overall nothing special to look at.

For the aroma I got a sweet initial smell of caramel malts but overall not a whole lot on the nose, very faint and not a lot going on.

On Taste got a very smooth drink, very easy to drink, nice mouthfuls, very smooth.

Not strong tasting, but did gets hints of caramel and plums and other fruits, but overall, truth be told, I struggled to get any real taste, some malts…….not much else, and no presence of hops.

Dark chocolate as well. A Coca cola style taste, lots of malts but no alcohol. 

Very smooth, pleasant and nice to drink, but for me it doesn’t taste at all like a beer but more a strong version of coke with added sugar. Bland and disappointing all things considering.

Some critics have compared this to an English ale, particularly Newcastle Brown Ale, while some even have found a likeness to porter. For me I just cant see these comparisons at all, yeah perhaps in appearance but definitely not in taste. The Pelforth Brune, for me, is just too sweet, far too sugary, too smooth and flavourless, and nothing at all like an English ale or porter. Disappointing. 

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Kühles Blondes 

http://www.ottakringerbrauerei.at/de/home/

Brewed by Ottakringer Brauerei AG 
Style: Pale Lager
Wien, Austria

The Ottakringer brewery is a large brewery based in the Ottakring District, Vienna,  Austria. 

Founded in 1837 by Heinrich Plank originally under the name the Plank brewery. It wasn’t until the 1850’s when two cousins took over, Ignaz and Jakob Kuffner, that the operation really began to expand . The two built the small plant into a large brewery.  In no time the brewery became successful.

But bad news arrived in the form of the World War and the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. Moriz von Kuffner, Ignaz’s son, was forced to sell his business because of his Jewish background. It was sold for a rather low price of 14 million Austrian schillings (about 36 million Euros at today’s values) to Gustav Harmer, who was also forced out of the business for two years after the war. After the liberation by the Allies, the brewery was temporarily managed by the Russians, before the Harmer family managed to legally prove their purchase. The heirs of Moriz von Kuffner, were also compensated for their loss.

In 1986, the Ottakringer Brewery was listed on the stock exchange, and presently the parent company, Getränkeindustrie Holding AG, owns 70.31% of Ottakringer Brauerei AG. 

Today the brewery is still going strong, and are a major sponsor of the Austrian football team SK Rapid Wien for many years now.

Review: 0.51 cl Can of Kühles Blondes: ABV: 5% 

Bought cheap in Aldi. Comes in a striking yellow can, which has some interesting lettering, looks like it could be a fruit drink. 

The appearance is one of a very clear, golden yellow colour, bubbling away with some pretty good carbonation. Produced a nice big frothy head, which did die a bit but overall maintains throughout. Had some very light lacing. Altogether, not a bad looking beer.

The aroma is of a nice light beery smell, getting the yeast. Also getting a faint smell of citrus and malts.

For the taste I got very nice mouthfuls, of light grains and sweet malts.

Smooth and clean to drink and pleasant enough. Very smooth in fact, I found it very nice and easy to quaff.

But I didn’t find any discernible or interesting tastes though, and couldn’t find the alcohol. 

Clean malts for sure, but no hops noticeable in the taste.

Nice for a session, as they go down well, but very light, low bitterness, and no real bite to it. 

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