Leffe Blonde

Product:       Abbey of Leffe Blonde

Style:           Strong Belgian Abbey Ale

Producer:     InBev Belgium

Made in:       Belgium

Alcohol:       6.6% alc./vol.

Price:          $14.49 for 6pk of 33cl bottles  ($2.42/bottle)

      I decided to give this beer a try for a number of reasons. One reason was up to this point I have only reviewed domestic Canadian beer. Another reason was the packaging caught my attention, and lastly I wanted to review something very different. This beer, is exactly that, very different. If you haven't a blonde beer with enough flavour, look no further because this is the beer. This beer however is not for the beginner beer enthusiast and not something to bring to the next Superbowl party.

Appearance:

Leffe blonde is a very deep golden colour, almost amber. The head is snow white. It poured with a good amount of head which melted away to a film on the top of the glass.

Aromas:

You can get all kinds of aromas but what really hit me the most was the smell of canned corn. The over the top sweet fruity aromas coming from this beer are unique. Aromas of apple and especially a banana smell come from it as well as a hint of cloves. You can smell the little bit of extra alcohols and it gives it almost a sour vinous aroma as well.

Flavours:

The flavours begin well in a nice slightly sour, bitter, creamy way but for me at least this was the very peak of the flavour. After this the middle and the finish of the beer the flavours go downhill. After the initial taste you get this overwhelming sweetness, too sweet in my opinion. It finishes off very fruity, very bitter, and again with a bit of a sulfury, canned corn taste. the bitterness is good and the little bit of a touch of cloves is nice as well. The aftertaste isn't good at all you get this very raw metallic aftertaste that I don't care for. Overall the flavour is very sweet, and reminiscent of cooked corn.

Mouthfeel:

I think that the mouthfeel of this beer was very good.  The beer was a little gassy, I found that if you took a smaller sip that the sip turned into foam before I had a chance to swallow it. But, it's a very mouthcoating, full-bodied beer which I was pleasantly surprised about.

Drinkability:

The overly sweet, slightly gassy, full bodied beer is not my first choice if I was going to take something out amongst friends. It's a very filling beer and something I believe a beer lover could enjoy a glass of but I find it hard to conceptualize drinking the whole 6 pack in one evening. In fact this is the last of the 6 that I am reviewing. I could drink maybe 1/2 of a bottle before feeling that I had had too much of it.

      Overall I think this beer has some very strong aroma and flavours, which might not be pleasant for the average beer consumer. It has some very good flavours but I think that it's a beer that most will have to learn to fully appreciate. I think that the biggest hurdle for me was that I found it too sweet and possibly too rich. This beer is something to have a bottle of now and then, but I don't see myself introducing it to my friends whose idea of exotic imports is Heineken.

Leffe Blonde

2.5 / 5