Tasting Notes: Affligem: Op-Ale

Affligem: Op-Ale (Belgium: Belgium Ale: 5% ABV)

Visual:  A deep bronzed amber, large inch of off white solid bubble froth.

Nose: Spice, ash. Light crème brulee burnt sugar. Vanilla custard. Slight bread and orange peel.

Body: Very smooth texture and lightly bitter. Bready. Almost a hand pulled ale feel. Slight lemon and barley. Slightly creamy – milk. Some fudge touches. Quite a fresh flavour with light spice woven through.

Finish: Simple. Ash and bitterness. Brown bread again. Peanuts. Quite malty.

Conclusion: Is this what a Belgium bitter would taste like? For all I can draw the comparison I will confess the beer is more refreshing than that tagline would suggest. Its Belgium nature still comes through in the freshness and smoothness of the beer.

It’s a rarity in non lambic Belgium beers that it would session well, though it is significantly less showy than most of the countries beers as a result.

This shouldn’t sound too much of a downer. Its solid, sessionable and quite tasty. Of course after a week of the heavier Belgium beers I may be getting a tad blasé.

A solid wee trick, not special but solid.

Background: An amazingly common beer, so I’ve been told, yet I could never find it. One of Michael Jackson’s 500 recommended beers. I finally ran across this is a random bottle shop in Bruges. So I bought and drank it.