Petrus Blond

Brewed By: Bavik-De Brabandere in Harelbeke, Belgium

Purchased: Single bottle (11.2oz) from a Petrus sampler bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2011

Style/ABV: Belgian Blond Ale, 6.6%

I believe that tonight's beer is a Belgian Blond Ale, as per the (18A.) Belgian Blond Ale category in the BJCP. Popular Belgian Blond Ales include Leffe Blond and Grimbergen Blond.

There is also a Belgian Pale Ale category, as per (16B.) in the Belgian and French Ale category. Belgian Pale Ales are apparently most commonly found in the Flemish provinces of Antwerp and Brabant. But most importantly, these seem to be slightly lower in ABV, more balanced, and have good drinkability. These are "Belgian session beers."

So who cares? Concerned citizens, that is who. Ratebeer has this beer in their "Belgian Ale" category, which is a catch-all category for Belgian beers less than 7% ABV who do not fit into other categories. BeerAdvocate has put Petrus Blond into their "Belgian Pale Ale" category. This is confusing for a lot of reasons, including the fact that Leffe Blonde is a Belgian Blond Ale according to the BJCP, but falls into BeerAdvocates "Belgian Pale Ale" category. So it seems like BeerAdvocate uses "Belgian Pale Ale" as a catch-all category like Ratbeer uses "Belgian Ale." The BJCP firmly divides the two.

It's confusing and silly, and completely nonsexual. I just want to drink beer.

Today's beer is brewed by Bavik-De Brabandere. The brewery was founded in 1894 by Adolphe De Brabandere. One of his kids, Joseph De Brabandere, brewed his first beer the same year the brewery was founded. Before 1950 the brewery's beer was sold primarily to cafes and individuals, but post-1950 the beer has been sold to merchants. The Bavik Brewery is a family run business, and is one of the largest independent breweries in Belgium.

Let's dive in and taste this Belgian Blond "whatever you want to call it" Ale. 

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Petrus Blond

The beer pours with a solid, 3-finger, slightly off-white head that has hints of straw or yellow in it. The beer is transparent, clear, and has moderate to high carbonation. The body of this beer is a dark golden, straw color. In lower light this beer looks like a straw-copper-amber color, but in bright light there are hints of orange, gold, and straw. The head is taking its time to dissolve, and leaving some excelling lacing on the glass as it does.

Big pils malts dominate the aroma. There are some lemony fruit esters in here, yeast, white-sugar, grain, straw, honey, clove, maybe saffron? I'm also getting a tangy note, and some pear or apples, but this could just be an interpretation of the lemon-straw-grass note. Very malty, subtle, earthy, maybe vinous, and complex; this still has a "fresh" quality to it that I quite like.

The taste is really smooth, soft, and light. There's some alcohol and clove on the back end, and lots of Pils malts lingering after my first sip. I'm tasting honey, grain, biscuits, pears, slight tang, grass, and just solid malt sweetness with nice dryness. There is also some slight dusty-ness to this, with almost a hint of leathery. This is very wine-like and vinous, and the mouthfeel reminds me of the recent Corsendonk Ales I had.

This is sweet, light, and very soft on the palate. There is moderate carbonation, but I would say this is on the heavy end of a light beer. This is a pretty smooth drinker, and while you do feel some warming on the back end, you really don't notice the 6.6% ABV. This has wonderful palate depth, and great complexity. And unlike Leffe Blonde, you can tell this is a refined craft beer. The front end is malty, honey, sweet and some hints of pear; this rolls into a middle that features pears, honey, grain, and grass. The back end is all Pils malt with some warming from the booze. You get clove phenols throughout. Again, slightly dusty and vinous, but pretty bright and "fresh." Maybe some acidity?

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 82%

Solid stuff right here. I would take this over Leffe Blonde 8 days out of the week, except that this has low availability and seems to command a higher price. This is a good start to the Petrus sampler, and I look forward to trying the other two beers that came with the sampler. I would recommend trying this beer out, it's solid stuff.