De Proef Brouwerij
Lochristi, Belgium
Imported by: Waterloo Beverages, San
Francisco, CA
Available: CA, IL, MD, MA, PA, VA
Gageleer is brewed under license at ‘de proef-brouwerij’ in Lochristi, near Ghent, Belgium.
ABV: 7.5
ABW: N/A
Color: 10
Bitterness: 20
Original gravity: N/A
Honey-sweet in the nose with light hints of Meyer lemons and bready yeast, this beer tastes richer in the mouth than it appears in the glass. A white head lingers long above the hazy golden body, and the first sips bring an orange sweetness with fresh herbal notes that seem to lead into a gingery, peppery finish. Not sure if it was the bog myrtle (another name for sweet gale) or just me, but my tongue seemed to grow numb after several sips!
I’m sure we’ve all had clumsy herb and spice beers that fail the subtlety test. Gageleer, I’m pleased to say, is not one of them. The featured herb here is sweet gale, also known as bog myrtle. You can pick it up in the aroma that somehow combines ginger, mint and rosemary. These flavors, along with a toffee note from the malt, marry nicely in the taste, which is delightfully crisp and, with its spiky carbonation, not at all heavy for the strength. Herb notes then linger in the bitter finish. A beer for roast chicken, I would say.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.
Gageleer is just recently become my favorite beer , not served at it’s best at Barney’s in San Francisco though … something wrong with the duct’s i suppose … prefer the bottle version … just to be on the save side … other very good amber beer’s in SF -> Anchor Steam , Fat Tire , Bleu Moon , Mission something … keep up the good work !