Bottle. Blonde, pours an extreme head. Perfumed, floral citric aroma and flavor. Malty sweetish. Soft herbal finish. Low on carbon. Could be better.

Gedronken tijdens Bierfestival in Den Bosch. Donkerbruin troebel bier met weinig schuim. Weinig aroma. Smaak is zoet, koffieachtig en fruitig. Nasmaak is licht bitter.

Geprobeerd met Inoven bij het Nederlands Speciaalbier festival in den Bosch. Het een donkerbruin bier met een diep rode gloed. Het heeft een moutige fruitige geur. De smaak is vol moutig en vol fruitig. Erg goed.

Stinging nettle beer (only my second) designed by a beer company in Almere but actually brewed at Berging in Purmerend, thanks Craftmember for this bottle! Opens with quite some pressure, but no gushing. Medium thick, moussy, hardly lacing, egg-white head, regularly shaped, showing round gaps in instants but otherwise well-retaining, over a misty peach blonde beer with warm 'old gold' hue. Aroma of banana peel, cold green vegetable soup (the nettles, no doubt), pond water, stewed pear, salsify, soggy white bread, chalk, melting powder sugar, overripe pineapple somewhere, stewing rhubarb, raw turnip juice, spoiled courgette or even near-rotten cucumber, old Camembert, dry jute bags, stale sweat, moist white pepper. Crisp, spritzy onset with a lot of minerally carbonation, accentuating a certain raw pineapple- and green apple-like sourishness, sweet banana and apricot underneath; carbonation numbs the tongue to the point where it becomes a bit painful, but the underlying mouthfeel remains smooth and somewhat soapy (wheat!), with velvety soft edges (oat!). Quite pleasantly 'soggy bready' core, with sourish wheat and carbonation effects - yet gaining a bit more sourishness in the finish, quite refreshing, but with a stewing green vegetable- or even vegetable soup-like flavour coming up quite strongly (also retronasally), undoubtedly representing the nettle leaves (and, for all I know, the formic acid from its stinging hairs). Ends crisp and sourish-sweet with a gently bittering undertone from earthy, very mildly peppery hops; the wheat soapiness lingers as well as that weird green sourish nettle factor. Bready yeastiness galore in the end, especially after the sediment has been added to the tasting glass. The Dutch craft beer craze has no boundaries and I have nothing against adding leaves of stinging nettles to a beer, but the risks of infection are high in this kind of endeavours and I'm afraid that is exactly what happened here - in any case it would account for the sourish undertone stretching throughout the whole beer, and the 'rotting' effects in the nose. Strange one, I was planning to compare it with the only other stinging nettle beer I ever had (Heavy Nettle, a collab of New Belgium with Hof ten Dormaal) but that one was completely different so this wouldn't make much sense. I'm inclined to regard this as a Belgian style spice ale, something I am not utterly fond of anymore after twenty years of indulging in Belgian beer culture, but in that respect this is quite an interesting one. Clearly (and sadly) it has some disturbing, 'rotting vegetable-like' off-flavours, I am convinced this idea can be better executed. Well-intended, but not nearly there yet.

330 mml bottle as part of the European Summer Secret Santa 2017 edition, many thanks to Benzai for this bottle. Tasted on the 07/09/2017. Orange to amber colour with a medium off-white head. Aroma of sweet malts, caramel and light hops. Taste is medium bitter with a sweet finish. High carbonation. Next one please!

Bottle @ home. Unclear orange to amber color, average sized off-white head. Smell and taste malts, a bit sweet, slightly a plant like hint, slightly a soft bitter hint in the finish. Average to decent body and carbonation. Mwah.