Beatrix
A full-bodied, golden blonde ale that raises a gorgeous dense white head. The soft, delicate flavor makes this very weighty brew surprisingly easy to drink. Truly a Queen among beers.
3.8
156 reviews
Nederhorst Den Berg, Netherlands
Community reviews
BBB63 hookin’ a guy up! Poured into a tulip glass, golden with a huge snow white head and more carbonation than I would ever think a bottle could handle. Aromas of apple and pear, candi sugar, and some Belgian funk. All the flavors we’ve come to love in our Belgians. Funky brett sour horsey flavors with plenty of phenolics and citris. Bone dry with prickly bubbles. Mike mentioned that this was probably a 02 or 03 vintage. Aged very well.
Pours golden with a kind of sparkling nature to it. Nice tall head of big bubbles. Lots of sharp fruits in the aroma, spicy in a way. Great flavor, malty, yet with light fruits - peaches, kumquats, tartiness for sure. Full mouthfeel, but still retaining that sharp achoholly bite. Friend had it for a while, I can only assume that the flavor was quite it bit smoother when it was fresh.
Bottle - sampled at the RBESP 2005
Clear golden, low visible carbonation.
Citric and flowery on top of barnyard and leather.
Fruity base, light barnyard and youghurt. Light herbal, moderately sour. Medium body. Nice - they really should brew more of it.
Sample at DougShoemaker’s 2005 December gathering - bottle courtesy of beerhugger. Unknown vintage - at least 5 years old. Clear gold colour with a very active body. Aroma is tart and funky, really liked it. Flavour is quite interesting - fruity (peaches, apricots), some boziness, bit of spice and barnyard. As the others have commented, it was obviously past its prime, but enough of its brilliance was evident to make it obvious why this used to be a Top 100 beer.
Aroma is funky, fruity, and barnyard, hazy golden, tiny cream head. Tastes of malt, mixed fruit, wet blanket too. Light bodied, complex, nicely made offering. Very nice. This must have been something in it’s prime!
Many Thanks to beerhugger for sharing!
Bottle at ’December at DougShoemaker’s 2005’ -- courtesy of beerhugger. Vintage uncertain, somewhere between 1998 and 2000. Pours a hazy bubbly dark yellow with a small white head. Aroma is a little strange, it’s sour and soapy but in a good way. Flavour is also mildly sour along with some fruit and yeast. Both the aroma and flavour showed signs of being a little past it’s prime but overall it held up fairly well. Decent.
Bottle, at Doug’s, Christmas ’05, thanks to BeerHugger for sharing. 2002?? A few years old anyway, didn’t catch the exact year/ Wonderful attic-like slightly sour aroma - almost in the league of lambics - pretty nice. Dark yellow, small white head. Taste like a mild sour like lambic. There is also a hint of syrup sweetness in there as well. Flat. Pretty mellow and decent for its age, but is probably a bit past its prime.
Bottle opened by beerhugger, thanks Steve. Nice looking golden color, light haze, white head. Strong fruity aroma, golden apple, green grapes, apricot, a bit musty. Flavor was touch stressed from the age, funky, light colored fruits abound. Still plenty of carbonation, no signs of the alcohol, again a bit stressed from the age but whoever had this before beerhugger had kept this in real good shape. I enjoyed this quite a bit, I bet this was some killer stuff when it was fresh.
Thanks to Beerhugger (?) Strawberries, musty grassy, lemon and maybe a little plastic. Tastes old. Lemon, old wheat, plum. Musty fruit - cherry, strawberries, yeasty finish. Sweet maple as well.
Several years old, courtesy sharing with Steve (Beerhugger). An aroma of a very aged beer. The color of beige, lots of foam. A vinegary cidery taste, but better than a Cantillon. I could only sip this in between other food and drink. Still significant carbonation. Great for what it is.
Thanks to Eyedrinkale for bringing and sharing this
Poured a cloudy light grown with an off-white head. Aroma is very sweet with notes of vanilla, oak, and perhaps some chocolate chip cookies. Flavor is dominated by vanilla and cherries, with a bit of alcohol showing through to a dry finish. A bit too muich vanilla character for me, but a good Belgian.
Dark gold color with a nice sized off white head. Aroma and taste are similar with flavors of caramel, green apple, sweet malts and light grains.There’s a muskiness/dust flavor that adds a lot of charachter as well. Gotta drink it before it gets too warm and beware if the bottom of the bottle, which is mostly yeasty, murky brown.
The beer I never thought I would have the chance to taste. Thanks to the generosity of JCW, I now have a glass of Beatrix in front of me. Pours a golden orange, large white head. Very, very carbonated. I’m kind of surprised too, because there was hardly a pop when I uncorked it. Aroma is highly fruity. Apples and pears at the front, perhaps peaches. Lightly yeasty, subtle bread dough, jeez I don’t think I’m ready for this. Can I decipher such a complex brew? Is that vanilla? Not just apple, caramel apple. Belgian spice. Flavor explodes across my tongue. Sweet malty goodness. This is incredibly unique beer. Where is the alcohol? Even though it appears highly carbonated, it’s very soft on the palate. This is subtle, elegant and beautiful. Just... Wow. I was not ready for this...
750ml bottle.
Brewery identified on label as "GrootVorst" rather than "De Horste." Best I can tell it’s one in the same but I have not been able to determine why this brewery is sometimes referred to as one and sometimes the other. Anywho, pours dark amber with a massive fluffy white head which so persists that even the most patient beer taster cannot countenance its stubbornnes, and thus it must be sipped away to get at the tasty brew beneath. And the effort is worth it. Spicy hops, orange peel, sweet malt and hop bitter fill the nose upon sniffing. Flavor is dominated with malt, sugar and some orange peel; nutty yeast and medium hop bitterness make themselves known as well. A bit more dried fruit sets this apart from similar offerings from neighboring Belgium. Creamy palate. In storage since 2002, this has aged well. I wish they still made this stuff.
Poured a hazy golden color with a medium white head. Sweet fruity aroma with a good amount of spice and alcohol. Non-citrus fruits with alcohol that stands out. Some of the spices come from alcohol pepper flavors. After all the talk about having it I was kind of let down.
Sampled at Logan’s RateBeer tasting. Thanks to whoever brought this (matta?). Hazy, burnt straw body with good carbonation and a thick, sudsy, fading white head. Aroma of sweat-soaked oranges, spicy phenols, mature open pale malts, and intoxicating higher alcohols. Flavor is somewhat plasticky with elements of old oranges and orange peels, and honey. Medium-high sweetness follows through in the mouthfeel. I finally got to try the legendary Beatrix.
Cloudy beige-brown beer.
Rocky aroma with notes of alcohol and spices. Some acidity.
Cellar flavor with notes of rocks and alcohol. Smooth.
RBESG 2005, Cloudy yellow beer with an off white head. Tart woody aroma with a yeasty note. Tart, light fruity flavor with a dusty and yeasty note.
RBESG05: Loads of alcohol in the nose. Gold hazy with a white head. Fruity flavour, almost a little oxidised though. Loads of esters. medium-full bodied. A little too over the top.
Bottled at RBESG. Clear golden. Cherryish acidic nose. Dry and lightly yeasty with rounded malt character, yet with champagnelike sparkling qualities. There’s plenty of lactic acid and notes of banana. The flavour is still magnificent, but signs of age are creeping up on it, making the end a bit flat and oxidized.
Bottle. Golden colour with a white head. Acid fruity light alcoholic aroma and a light sweet fruity taste. Medium body and a light acid finish.
Bottle. Light golden in colour with a small white coloured head. The aroma was rather yeasty still, turning cidery, slightly sour, peaches and some pears. The flavour had some alcohol coming through, some apple cider, orange zest, turning a bit woody and earthy, slightly sweet. Creamy but still bitter mouthfeel, medium body, high carbonation. Finishes with a lingering bitterness, alcohol heat. Although that this beer is still good, I’m afraid that this beer has entered the downward spiral.
Bottle. RBESG -05.
Hazy golden. Cellary, wheaty nose. Buttery, soursweetish flavour with alcohol notes. Light citric. Full bodied.
(Bottle 75 cl) Very unclear, orangey golden with a very small head. Slightly sourish nose. Sweetish, soft malty body and a hint of a brett character - but it’s smooth and mellow, not sharp at all. Odd brew, but not unpleasant. 120805
Bottled. at RBESG 2005.
Clear yellow coloured with a small white head.
Strange aroma of fruits, woods and grapes.
Murky flavour of fruits and wood.
Bottle @ RBESG2005. Light sourness in the nose. some mold and tartness, a bit too one-dimensional. Golden colored body, medium white head. Sourish flavor, notes of bretts, quite dusty. The story is better than the beer.
Bottle RBESG. It doesn’t really smell that nice. And the flavor is very alcoholic. It’s plainly odd.
Bottled @RBESG’05
Hazy orange, small white head. Earthy (mould), citrusy nose. Medium to full bodied. Citrusy, acidy, lots of funky earthy notes here too. Big alcohol punch.
Bottle@RBESG ’05. Pours a hazy golden, with a big shortlived white head. Aroma is sweet malty and spicy, with some notes of oranges. Taste is sweet malts, some alcohol burning, and a yeasty fruityness
bottled. pretty murky but duff had just brought it back from bottleworks. rotting apple and listerine aroma, some decent sourness with mint and tomato leaves and a little raw sugar. curious but not great