One of the quintessential widely available abbey blonde ales of Belgium.   This beer is now brewed in the Stella Artois brewery in Leuve.  The history of the Leffe abbey can be found here.

Michael Jackson describes this beer with the following characteristics,  “sunny colour; a fragrant, faint, clovey-ness of aroma; a restrained orangey fruitiness in the palate and cedary dryness” He later suggests that the Leffe beers are made using the Vieux Temps yeast.

Coming in at 6.6% ABV, the dryness suggests the beer is fortified with cane sugar.   There is little to no hop character present in this beer.   No evidence of bottle conditioning is present.

Current Beeradvocate rating: B.  I feel this rating is off.  You either like this style of beer or you don’t.

Our opinion:   The beauty of this beer is it’s ability to be paired with seafood.  It will not overpower something like sea bass but it should clean the palate, leaving you ready for that next bite.