svenlatham.com > Beer
3 Monts

From Flanders - A really nice 75cl bottle. Little bit fizzy, quite drinkable and blond .

Achel

Like Westmalle, triple brewed (I think), strong and dark taste. Was a Trappist but has since lost this status.

Affligem 0,0

A weird one this. It doesn't really taste of... anything. Barely a hint of beer and mostly just dealing with carbonated water. I won't bother again.

Affligem Dubbel

Dark beer with strong caramel, very sweet, not too pleasant. Has a slight metallic aftertaste.

Affligem Tripel

Unlike the Dubbel, blonder beer is very nice, refined with a kick. Up there with the Achel and Westmalle.

Ampleforth

Nice beer from York area, in the spirit of Belgian beers. Deep blonde, dubbel. Hints of nut. enjoyable.

Barista Chocolate Quad

Dark, delicious, chocolate taste. Special brew from Kasteel and well worth a try.

Bolleke (de Koninck)

Sharp. Bit of a tough one to drink. On presentation quite fizzy, albeit with a soft caramel taste.

Brouwerij Werbrouck (Dubbel)

fizzy, creamy and chocolately dark double beer. Forgettable.

Brugge Tripel

Unremarkable strong beer with a bit of fizz. won't miss it.

Brugse Zot

Quite nice! A bit clichéed - more popular than it is tasty.

Chimay Blue 2021

lovely deep dark beer, nice textures, and a strong taste that is welcome and warming.

Chimay Cinq Cents

Much blonder beer with a slight fermentation/vinegar taste. Not fantastic.

Chimay Dark

Lovely dark Trappist beer

Chimay Grand Reserve 2019

Dark, almost chocolate taste. Strong, deep and pleasant.

Cornet Oaked

Indeed a bit of an oak taste makes it smooth and almost creme. lighter blond beer, nice aftertaste. not my favourite but worth enjoying.

Cuvée Clarisse - Wild Weasel

Strong, smooth with a hint of whisky (although not as much as I expected). This punches its weight around the typical 10% beers and is a pleasant drink. Would definitely seek out.

Delirium Nocturnum

Very dark, malty. Drinkable in isolation but probably couldn't manage more than one.

Duchesse de Bourgogne

Hints of balsamic vinegar it tells me on the web - my bottle tasted entirely of balsamic vinegar. I hope this was a one-off - undrinkable.

Duvel

Distinctive, lighter tasting beer but with quite a kick. A bit too fizzy in 75cl variants.

Duvel 6.66

Nice beer along the lines of the origianl Duval with a slightly softer taste, lower strength.

Duvel Tripel Hop Citra

A new beer (2021) with a noticeably sour taste with lemon remains. Sadly not a favourite; Duval original remains my preferred.

Floreffe

Fizzy blond beer, not particularly tasty. The flavour is slightly sour, slightly metallic, not really appealing to me, so it's a miss from now on.

fourchette

fizzy - careful opening the bottle. The fizz continues throughout, somewhat distracting from any taste that might linger. Under the liveliness it's a fairly run of the mill affair with no great qualities.. Slight dark, caramel taste.

Gentse Strop

quite a blond beer on appearance, but with a strong, quite brutal hoppy aftertaste. Not my favourite. Very fizzy.

Goedendag

Slightly sharper taste of strong, pale alcohol - bit like Tripel Karmeliet but without such a nice rounded taste.

Gouden Karolus

I do like this (can't remember why - may be a good sign...)

Gouverneur Tripel

First few tastes were quite sour, but it steadily improved through the bottle. Nice smooth texture with a creamy aftertaste.

Grote Kazematten Ieper

Dark beer with a slightly sour aftertaste. Cloudy in the bottle. Not fantastic.

gulden draak

very nice smooth dark beer. not much extra to it

Gulden Draak 9000 Quadrupel

smooth creamy flavour, nice aftertaste. Strong and good all-rounder. i like this one! incredibly tasty, strong beer with a refined, smooth flavour of dark beer, but not impossibly so.

Hercule Stout

Named after the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, this has been on my to try list for a while. It’s a decent stout with a nice, dark flavour. Reminds me of chocolate, coffee bitterness which works well. Slightly stronger at 9% ABV. I’d certainly be happy to add this to the regular rotation when it becomes available.

Hertog Jan (Grand Prestige)

Quite a delicious, smooth texture from a strong beer. Welcome, marming and tasty.

Hertog Jan Karakter

similar to kastel but fizzier and slightly more drinkable.

Hopus

nice, tame flavour with a strong caramel taste.

Jopen Heavy Cross Triple IPA

Another Jopen IPA that seems to be targeted at the Brits. IPA is not my preference. Although I appreciate it's less distinct here, it's not one I'll pick up again.

Jopen Mooi Nel North Sea IPA

Picked this up on a whim but I need to remind myself that I'm not a fan of IPAs. I'm sure this is nice to many who enjoy IPAs, but I can't get over the taste. Sadly not a nice one.

Jopen Trinitas Tripel

Nice blended beer, tastes like rochefort 10. enjoyable, quite strong but not unpleasant. From Haarlem.

Kasteel Cuvée

Lovely dark strong stout, good for flavour, cold dark nights

Kasteel Donker 11 degrees

Very dark, chocolatey beer. more than one is tough. very nice.

Kasteel Tripel

Strong blond beer. Nice, creamy aftertaste, Packs a bit of a punch. Not too far from Tripel Karmeliet.

Kwak

Ever so slightly sour taste, strong beer (8.5%) with a deep but not offensive malt taste. Smooth, not particularly fizzy.

Kwak Blonde

Quite tasty, nice flavour with hints of fruit coming through, at 7.4% a reasonable strength. The typical Kwak sourness is coming through but in this beer it's not too strong.

La Chouffe

Unfiltered blond beer, Really nice aftertaste a bit like the better Leffe blond. quite strong.

La Chouffe (Blue)

Quite a caramel, dark taste. Perhaps a bit overpowering. Not my favourite.#

La Chouffe (cherry)

Strong cherry flavour (of course!) really quite delightful.

La Goudale

A really nice, tasty beer ideal in 75cl bottles. Blonde and reasonably strong

La Mointoise

Blond beer, quite fizzy. One of the weaker beers - good for a sunny evening.

La Trappe Dubbel

Bit too light for my tastes, still a gorgeous taste.

La Trappe Isid'Or

Darker, slightly maltier than Quad. I really like it. Got a strong kick.

La Trappe Puur

a weaker beer with a weird taste, almost hoppy in the way alcohol-free beers taste. Lingering sweet taste. Beer itself smells a little burnt. Taste is creamy and fizzy. Aftertaste lingers for a while. Nothing special but a good option for "don't want to have too much".

La Trappe Quadrupel

is very nice, strong, lovely smooth taste. Errs towards caramel/chocolate levels of taste.

La Trappe Tripel

Lighter, lovely. A delight in beer, not quite the kick of the quad but not necessarily a bad thing!

Leffe Blonde

A popular blonde drink from Belgium, brewed by AB InBev.

Leffe Bruin 0,0

A weak substitute for an otherwise nice beer. It's a little closer than other brands but still has a strong sweet taste prevalent to most alcohol free beers.

Leffe Rituel 9 Degrees

Stronger, slightly darker beer. Pleasant routine drink. Not outstanding.

Leffe Royale Blonde

Fizzy one, nothing exceptional but has an unusual honey aftertaste.

Leffe Zomer (Ete)

Fine beer, nice and refreshing, slightly sparkling. easy drinking typical leffe taste but slightly weaker.

Lellebel

Nice, slightly sore but pleasant and refreshing drink. Almost a hint of IPA (it's a "Belgian Pale Ale") but not too much. Nice cold in a hot summer day.

Mc Chouffe

Double malt, dark, strong beer. Not too fizzy.

Monks Stout Dupont

I know when I'm beaten. Deep strong stout flavour, a little too much so for my tastes.

Omer

Nice, deep tasting beer with a strong and pleasant flavour, with an aftertaste of hops. Enjoyable drink.

Orval

Slightly sour taste but still delicious, slightly creme and caramel flavour. not too fizzy. cloudy and light brown.

Paix Dieu

Slightly strange, strong beer. It has a sickly, caramel taste that thankfully doesn't overpower. Carries a bit of a whack in strength. Nice as a one off, but probably not a regular choice.

Palm

Soft and sweet beer.

Pannepot Vintage 2017

very dark strong stout beer with choc+creamy aftertaste. nice but not a personal fave

Pauwel Kwak

surprisingly smoother than I remember. Really nice taste, easy to drink and welcome.

Pelforth

Very fizzy darker beer. Caramel taste hits upfront. Frankly tastes like table wine with a bit of a kick. artificially sweet.

Petrus Nitro Quad

bit sickly for me but otherwise a nice strong beer

Poperings Hommel

Fizzy, nice blond beer. Not spectacular but enjoyable enough.

Quintine

Very nice, but fizzy

Rebelse Strop

Sour taste (fermentation in bottle). Otherwise fairly uninteresting, indistinct taste.

Rochefort 10

Dark again, stronger.

Rochefort 8

Very nice dark beer. Strong.

Saint Lambertus (Summer)

Bit of an unpleasant aftertaste consistent with beers of this type. Not great.

Saison Dupont

Quite a sour taste, particularly lingering. This is a reasonably nice beer, although going to be tough after the first bottle. Reasonably undistinct flavour otherwise. Not too creamy. Fizzy at times.

Santé Grotten

actually rather nice. Dark beer with an unexpected fruity (almost sour) aftertaste.

Schlenkerla Rauchbier

It seems this one has a bit of fame. The “real Schlenkerla smoked beer” certainly doesn’t disappoint. It’s how I’d imagine kissing an ashtray. The smokiness comes through immediately and throughout and – if I dare to say – overpowers much of the remaining beer taste. Not sure I’ll be back to this one in a hurry. The novelty wore off quickly, and it wasn’t the most pleasant to drink. Still, good as a reminder of some of the more extreme flavours out there.

Siren Through the Hourglass

sour, difficult to drink. Don't think I'll be trying this again.

St Bernadus Abt 12

Nice beer, easy to drink, not so sweet. lovely dark beer with smooth tastes, strong flavour and abv. Couldn't have too many of these but they're a firm favourite.

St Feuillen

Slightly fizzy blond beer, strong-ish but nice and easy to drink.

St Feuillen Grand Cru

Really nice caramel taste with a strong kick and lovely texture. defintely enjoy this one as an occasional purchase.

St Pierre Blond

Slightly metallic taste at first, but not too overpowering. Bit fizzy. Beyond that, there's nothing too distinct about this beer.

Stouterik (De La Senne)

Watery, with a strong fizzy and chocolate. I don't like this. It has no real body.

Straffe Hendrik Quad

very dark, malty but strangely sweet. Can't actually taste much booze despite being 11.5% I do like it.

Ter Dolen Donker

Lovely dark beer, caramel with a bit fruity

Texels Scuumkoppe 0,0

Actually quite nice for a non alcoholic beer. They've done something to this that prevents the usual weird sweetened taste coming through (it's still there but the flavour of scuumkoppe is stronger). A good choice for alcohol free drinking.

Texels Skuumkoppe

Frothy head to this beer (literally translate as 'scum head') which had a reasonable taste, slightly wheaty, not particularly remarkable.

Texels Springtij

Good but not fantastic. nice enough, quite bubbly but nice caramel aftertaste

Tongerio Tripel

Blond triple beer, ever such a slightly sour taste which just knocks it down a little for me, otherwise a fairly indistinctive one.

Tripel Karmeliet

Lovely; triple beer so very strong taste, halfway between dark and blond

Triple Secret Des Moines

light (in colour) blonde beer with a slight fermentation aftertaste. 8.0% ... Aroma is a little sour on first impression, but the taste takes hold pretty quickly. It's not a "bad" beer but I'm not fussed on finding it again.

Troubdaour Magma

Smooth, creamy taste to a strong-ish beer. Very slight sour taste to it, which is interesting but just about my limit. Not one I'd pick out but broadly pleasant nonetheless.

Tynt Meadow

The only British Trappist beer. Lovely, smooth, creamy and chocolatey.

victoria

Strong and a reasonable rate, but there's a metallic hint that persists, possibly a result of the refermentation. Not the best, but not undrinkable either. Supposedly this a competitor to Duval, but I'm not convinced.

Westmalle Dubbel

A slightly weaker variant of the gorgeous Tripel dark Westmalle beer, just as tasty.

Westmalle Extra

Lighter on the alcohol content; fizzier. Reminds me of 'premium' lagers, with hints of the classic Westmalle taste.

Westmalle Tripel

Gorgeous triple brewed golden strong pale ale.

Westvleteren

Very difficult to get hold of (you shouldn't see this for resale - it's supposed to be bought direct from the abbey). Refined, strong, The 8 degrees bottle is a nice, strong dark taste but surprisingly not too fizzy. Hints of chocolate aftertaste. Nice all rounder but it's not "amazing" as the exclusivity might suggest! 10 is pretty well as expected, a darker, stronger beer with a tiny bit more fizz.

Zatte Tripel

Curious beer that starts off as a boozy, metallic tasting fizzy beer .. doesn't really feature anything original. It's hard to explain: inoffensive, indistinct, but quite strong and a bit fizzy.