La Rulles Estivale

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Comes out of the tap a hazy golden yellow with a fine-bubbled cream-white head that leaves substantial lacing. Aroma is fruity, sweet and a little malty/wheaty. Crisp flavor is malty and fruity, both pomme and citrus, with hints of honey and wood/rye. Texture is fairly smooth and has a subtle fizz. Happy Summer!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

750 ml dark green capped bottle, from Vinmonopolet Vika, Oslo. ABV is 5.2%. Golden colour, large white head.Lovely aroma of fruity American hops, also some piney notes. Fairly light bodied. The flavour is also dominated by American hops from start to finish, piney and fruity notes, bitter finish, but not overdone. Regarding style: Yes, the beer is brewed in Belgium, but the style is closer to an American Pale Ale than a Belgian Ale.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours out in a hazy blond colour with a rich frothy snow white head. Rich aroma of yeast, herbs, wet grass, spices and biscuits. Medium-bodied with notes of spices, herbs, white pepper, bark and yeast. Solid body. Dryish medium-bitter finish of grassy and herbal hops.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours with an initially quite frothy, three-finger thick, pale off-white colored head that leaves some nice lacing on the sides of my tulip glass & even recedes with some structured peaking to it. As I pour the brew a touch of light struck hop scent reaches my nose, nothing too bad & hopefully it will dissipate. My hope is confirmed when I finally get to exploring the aroma of this brew; it has a solid grassiness to it (influenced by both hop and pale grains), a fruity citrus character (lychee, apricot, candied tangelo peel) and a nice pale grain driven character of biscuits, fresh crushed soda crackers and an appetizing bread-like aroma. This has a really nice appetizing aroma; I really like the mix of the bread-like malt aromatics (the dominant note perhaps), grassy hop / grain notes and the soft, yet persistent super hop fruit character.

Light feeling as it hits the tongue & it has a nice, prickly, slight foamy carbonation to it. Quite dry tasting, but just a touch of sweetness that seems to be accentuated by the fruity hop notes. A nice, substantial pale malt character builds in intensity as it moves towards a dry, biscuit-like / soda cracker grain character that lingers on in the finish. Oh yeah, it is pretty hoppy too. A persistent, mouth coating bitterness is noticeable from the get go & it lingers on into a long, biting finish. While quite dry, some of the fruit / citrus notes characteristic of the American hops definitely still come through; flavors of kumquats, aromatic, dried apricots, piquant Curacao orange zest and tangelo peel are all noticeable. There is also a grassy undercurrent that is accentuated by both the malt and hop usage. The yeast character supplies a light tartness, some esters / phenolics that definitely accentuates the grassy notes in the beer, a sort of cotton-mouth thing ; really this seems like a nice rustic Saison-type yeast here, though at times it can be hard to pick it out.

This beer is very drinkable, the 750ml bottle just seems to be disappearing. I could perhaps wish for a little more yeast complexity, but really the ample hop & great malt character wouldn't come through nearly as well.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottle: Poured a hazy beige color ale with a large foamy off-white head with some good retention and some lacing. Aroma of dry Belgian malt with some dry hops taste is dominated by some dry malt base with some floral and grassy hops. Body is pretty full with some average carbonation. Overall, this is an interesting take on a very interesting beer (Orval) but I thought it was slightly too dry and missing some funk to be truly great.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Re-rate, draft at Half Moon, Sept 09 - Not much different than before, earthiness along with all the grass, etc... Snore. Draft: Deep golden-yellow in color, nice generous white head, solid lacing. The aroma was very pilsner like, pils malts noticeable first and foremost, grass, lemon grass, and bready aspects. The flavor was pils malts, fruity esters, lemon grass, grass, doughy malts, and funky yeast byproducts. Mouthfeel was full, the highpoint of the beer. While the complexity was there and I can see why others would appreciate this, it was a bit too unmelded for me, I didn’t like the way the flavors came together, and I’m not fond of the higher emphasis of pilsner-like qualities in my Belgian ales. to each his own.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Hazy yellow colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is barnyard with some yeasty and fruity hints. Flavour is sour fruits, yeast and some hops. Quite ok brew, but I didn't get that excited about it.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours with a pale yellow body topped by a thick, creamy head with lots of lacing. It’s sweet and yeasty with a light fruitiness, a light floral note and a little grassiness. Light to medium bodied and dry.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Poured a lightly hazy, golden color with a small, white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of citrus, yeast, spices, and faint floral hoppiness in the background. Taste of orange peel, citrus, grassy hops, yeast, and some spices, which was very well balanced, leading to a crisp mouthfeel. really nice Belgian Ale.