Urthel Saisonnière Blonde Special Ale

It's always great to randomly bump into new products that you've never seen anymore. Today I really craved SOMETHING, ANYTHING, I would have even gone for a 6 of Molson Dry if it was the first thing I saw.

I saw the Urkel Saisonnière Blond Special Ale in the Belgian beer section of the Liquormart, considering this is actually a beer from the Netherlands. Just seeing the word "Saison-" on it lit me up, as I'm a huge fan of Unibroue's Blonde de Chambly Saison ale. The label itself has an old man wiht a big mustache that reminds me a combination of my old roommate Jim, when he didn't shave (and he appreciated good beer as much as I did), and Asterix. So a cartoon that reminds me of that - I have to try it!

So how was it? This Blonde Special ale is 355mL and 6% ABV, costs $2.89 before tax, so middle of the road for price, not cheap, not expensive.

Appearance: Bottle's pretty nice, yet simple, love the bottle cap, cartoony. Pours a hazy not-quite-orange not-quite-golden colour with a heavy eggshell head that won't go anywhere. It very much looks like a Blonde de Chambly, huzzah!

Aroma: Faint hint of citrus, maybe lemon.

Taste: Very much reminiscent of Blonde de Chambly's saison ale, which makes me happy, however - it's quite light in flavour compared to BdeC. Has that citrusy zing to it, with a slight hint of hops so it's something I could see myself drinking while barbecuing.

Do I like it?: Of course. This is the first saison style ale I've had since Blonde de Chambly sold out here in March. This might become a regular on my beer shopping list when I want to treat myself (which is rare as it is). I like it, and it's possibly the best Dutch beer I've tried, so far (which is easy when the other beers were just Heineken and other skunky beers like that).

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