Poperings hommelbier

Another beer from the Van Eecke brewery in Watou, this one stresses the hop element: “hommel” is the Flemish for “hop”. Apparently, it also means “bumblebee”. No idea what the connection is there, if any. Picture of hop plants on the label. No sign of any bees.

The beer itself is a blonde ale, and, yes, heavy on the hop: bitter, super-dry finish. It’s quite cloudy, with a lot of the bottle yeast in suspension. Does this mean I poured it too fast? It has a kind of steamed celery or steamed onion taste to it, which is actually quite nice. 7.5% alcohol, balanced nicely. Not much sting to this bumblebee.