Greetings from Belgium

Greetings from Belgium is a collab between Muskoka Brewery from Bracebridge, Ontario and Het Nest Brouwerij, a brewery from Turnhout, near Antwerp, Belgium. The beer is a Belgian-style golden strong ale—a member of Muskoka’s “Big World Small Batch” series—apparently the series’ inaugural release. It’s a 7.8% ale that comes in 473mL cans. The beer is gold in colour, largely clear, and pours with a thin white head.

GfB has aromatics that of describe is yeasty, spicy, and sweet, with baked apple notes. The beer is sweet from tape to tape, with apple and clove notes. I’d hazard that the beer actually manages to taste even stronger than its 7.8%—the booze manifests as a pretty substantial warm streak.

Honestly, this Belgian-style brew from Ontario’s cottage country does a fair approximation of a Belgian golden ale. It might not be as complex as the style calls for, but the flavour is pretty interesting, approachable, and not so strong as might turn off drinkers unfamiliar with the style.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.