Kappitel Blond 6.5% ABV
Belgian Pale Ale
Brouwerij Van Eecke

I popped open this 11.2 oz bottle and poured it into a standard American beer glass.  The pour produced a frothy snow white head to the beer that dissipated quickly.  The brew has the aroma of a wheat beer, and a mellow yeasty taste.  It’s different from other pale ales that I’ve tasted.  There is no distinguishable bitter hoppy flavor that I’ve come to expect from pale ales.  It has a surprisingly smooth and crisp taste.  All the more surprising, considering its higher than average alcohol content.  The light taste, color, and easy drink-ability of the beer remind me of an American pilsner or light lager; where as the wheat flavor is reminiscent of a hefeweizen.  The beer’s yeasty lingering flavor diminishes as I make my way through the contents of the glass.  This is a beer with unique qualities and I’m glad I was able to try it out.  I’m not much of a fan of wheat beers, but if you are, this is one worth tasting for sure.

This Kapittel Blond is the youngest of the four Kapittel beers, being added to the collection in the 1990’s.  Kapittel is one of many brew series made by Browerij Van Eecke, an independent family brewery that has origins dating back to 1629.  The brewery was destroyed during the French Revolution by plundering French soldiers.  A local farmer took it upon himself to rebuild the brewery the same year of it’s destruction under the slogan “Revolt all you want, but we still need beer here.”  The Van Eecke family took over control of the brewery in 1862.

The brewery is proud to use local ingredients in its brews.  The brewery uses its own well water source and buys malts from Northern France whose border is only 5 minutes away.  The hops are grown locally and proudly are the only Belgian hops that are still farmed.  The brewery even uses its own laboratory cultivated yeast-strings.