Super 8 IPA

Lo and behold, the most conservative of Belgium’s industrial breweries has apparently noticed IPA is sweeping the world these days, and decided to introduce their customers to their own interpretation, which is incomprehensibly incorporated in the same ’Super 8’ brand as their extremely old-fashioned ’export’ (in the old Belgian sense of the word). Expectations are low, but let’s give this a shot, bottle from a Delhaize supermarket (sitting in fourpacks right next to the identically packed, now relaunched Super 8 Export, with the exact same label it had decades ago, a label which is copied in green for this IPA ’version’ - something anachronistic is going on here to say the least). Medium thick, irregular but fairly stable, snow white, ’papery’ lacing head slowly dissolving, over a bright orange blonde beer with amberish hue, cristal clear with some strings of lively sparkling here and there. Aroma of dried orange peel, dry biscuit, hard butterscotch candy, sweet paprika, dried wormwood leaves, old lemon zest, minerals, white pepper, fried potatoes, soap and the unmistakable smell of pasteurization, embodied by a whiff of cooked Brussels sprouts. Crisp onset, ’clean’ fruitiness, hints of apple peel, green banana and dried apricot, subdued sweetishness and some underlying but effective sourishness, very minerally which is accentuated by strong, ’pearly’ carbonation, a bit souring and over the top for the style, but tolerable. Smooth, slightly oily mouthfeel, nutty maltiness, only restrainedly sweetish with a vague biscuity touch but quickly shifting to softly toasted bitterishness which is then emphasized by a peppery, wormwood- and somewhat tonic water-like bitterness which dries the finish without blocking the juiciness of the nutty malts; low in retronasal aromas, though some floral, grassy and even vaguely citrus peel-like accents are noticeable, albeit without the ’lushness’ of fresh New World hops. Some soapiness lingers too. Industrial and clean, ’generic’ interpretation of IPA, actually feeling close to the old English variant of it, much more so than to the modern, international but essentially American variants. The latter would have astonished me completely from this brewery, but the fact that they are attempting anything labelled ’IPA’ is already noteworthy by itself, as Haacht is very conservative and old-fashioned in their range and this style, contrary to classic English pale ale, has no history in 20th-century Belgium which is basically embodied by this brewery (as well as others). Saying that this is likely the best Haacht beer I tasted so far, is not saying a whole lot, clearly, but I have to admit that they managed to pull off something that could have come from some larger foreign brewery just as well: this is an ’international pale ale’, not so much the typical, estery and phenolic, tripel- or blond-like ’Belgian IPA’ compromise I was expecting and which I’ve seen from other traditional Belgian breweries failing to understand what IPA is about. That said, it remains a very industrial, pasteurized, generic and uninspired IPA (or rather: hop-forward English pale ale, which is basically the same as English style IPA) - only worth mentioning in the context of what it means in Haacht’s portfolio rather than in the context of IPA in general. Could have been a lot worse.

330 ml. bottle sampled. Clear dark amber, little head. Massively oily pine resin, very thick hop oil with toffee, caramel malt,... Herbal oily pine tree sap, bit too sweet herbal, bitter toffee, herbal, lightly metallic,... Body is metallic oily herbal water. Crude IPA, metallic, sweet, herbal,.. bit watery but far better than expected from this brewery. Far better than expected from this brewery, not a bad at all.

F: big, tan, good retention. C: amber to coppery, clear. A: malt, light citrus, passion fruits, gooseberries, hint of caramel, tropical fruits. T: malt, lemon, light tangerine bitterness, gooseberries, some grainy sweetness, not like craft beer but quite drinkable, medium body, medium carbonation, for that price not bad, 33cl bottle from Delhaize Chazal @ Schaerbeek in Brussels.

Oh lord, another Industrial Brewery tries their take on what they think an IPA is.... Sigh... Pours clear amber, ok white head. Smell is rather sweet, grainy. Hopped. Taste is intense , bit bitter, rather sweet; very unnatural. Very wattery. Not as offensive as vedett ipa, but still very, very poor attempt to brew a style that’s usually realy good.