Vampire Pale Ale - Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.

Zorro

California

3.41/5  rDev -13.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Corked and caged 750 ML Bottle no best by date.

Clear amber colored all with a tall puffy white head.

Smells on the sweet side with lots of honeysuckle and and coriander. Herbs and pepper in the hop aroma. Smells slightly soapy.

Starts out sweet and flowery in the mouth, fairly mild flavor, no blood tasted. Softy powdery yeast flavor with a good coriander after taste. Herbal and floral tasting this is quite mild and the alcohol is completely hidden.

Mouthfeel is good.

Overall a tasty mild ale. What this lacks in complexity it gets back in user friendliness.

Serving type: bottle

03-16-2013 02:20:47 | More by Zorro

impending

California

3.39/5  rDev -14.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

B-

750ml into a tulip. Pours a crystal clear shiny copper penny, dense egg cream colored head slow to recede, clumping froth remains behind, excellent lacing. gorgeous

Aroma is powdery yeast and confectioner sugar, light skinned fruits in the background along with a phenolic musk.

Taste too is yeasty and fairly sweet. Unripened apricot, a pear and some honey. Low bitter, low dry. Hint of zinc at the tail end of the finish. Relatively thin bodied but a touch cloying nonetheless.
cheers
jd

Serving type: bottle

03-10-2013 08:16:52 | More by impending

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

3.93/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

750ml caged and corked bottle. Strange oral vampire illustration on the label - Mick Jagger would be proud, I think. The most appropriate offering I could find for this most hallow of weens.

This beer pours a hazy medium golden hue, with three fingers of roiling, puffy, and thinly puffy off-white head, which leaves some frizzy table-top cloud lace around the glass as it slowly wisps away.

It smells of sweet, somewhat pastry-esque pale malt, earthy Belgian yeast, some apple mush and Poire Williams fruitiness, and leafy, floral hops. The taste is semi-sweet drupe fruit - more apple and pear - with a sturdy, kind of bready pale maltiness, softened Low Countries yeast notes, and increasingly bitter (everything being relevant the key concept here) leafy, weedy hops. No evidence of the elevated ABV to be found as of yet.

The bubbles, bubbles, toil and trouble (my apologies to Sir Will) are actually average, which works just fine, of course, the body medium-light in weight, and mostly smooth, as some of that initially understated effervescence starts getting frisky. It finishes fairly off-dry, the fruity malt not fading too much, unlike the hops and other bit players.

A decent enough Belgian pale ale, the Transylvanian angle played out by the "Stay Pale" subtitle, as the remainder has nothing so hokey or pandering, just a nicely warming, fruity, yeasty pale ale. If a Twilight or True Blood kiddie happens upon this, and is accidentally introduced to the cornucopia of Belgian beer, then, um, good.

Serving type: bottle

11-01-2012 02:38:17 | More by biboergosum

KansasBeerLover

Kansas

4.23/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 750 bomber to a tulip glass.

A center pour gave 3 fingers of large bubbled head, which went to a partial thin head with minimal lacing. The ale is apricot color, a little cloud in the body.

Aroma is fruit and hops. Not overpowering.

Taste follows the aroma. Hoppy with fruit.

Mouthfeel is smooth. Flavor remains on the tongue and roof. A touch of bitterness, very little alcohol.

Overall this is a good brew, Not outstanding, but a very good beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-13-2012 20:38:12 | More by KansasBeerLover