Brewery Bosteels has always been a favourite of mine, having been lucky enough to have visited several times. It took a little finding in the days before sat-navs, but once inside the big double wooden doors there was always a very warm welcome from seventh-generation owners, and the beers weren’t half bad either.
In 2016 it was announced that the brewery was to be sold to AB-Inbev, which was met with much sadness and consternation at the time. Since then, we can happily attest to the fact the three iconic beers – Karmeliet, Kwak and Deus – have not suffered from the ownership change. And in typical ‘big-beer’ fashion, two new beers were introduced earlier this year under the Kwak label.
So here we have the newly released Kwak Blond, described by the brewery as ‘a smooth and refreshing blonde beer, with delicate bitterness and a subtle hint of aroma hops’. So a blond beer with Styrian Golding, Cascade and Simcoe hops.
For a blond it is one the sweeter side, with the taste of pear and apricot evident alongside the malty body. There really isn’t a lot of hop aroma, with just enough bitterness to start balancing out the malt sweetness. I would swap a normal Kwak for this beer, but it is easily drinkable and interesting to taste the newest addition to the Bosteel range.