Lukt: Svak citrus og noe urter.
Utseende: Mørk gyllen.
Skum/kullsyre: Dekkende skum.
Smak: Malt og urter.
Hvor: Cafe Het Paleis, Schiphool.
Medium: Flaske@300ml, ABV@7%, Når@01.11.2016

Bottle. Color: Quite clear amber. White head is not long lasting. Taste: Hopbitter to sweet. Fruity. Bit abrupt finish for an ipa. In my opinion this is a very drinkable but commercial ipa, brewed for a larger public but lacking taste for the real beer enthousiasts.

Pours a quite clear amber color, topped with a small white head, not really lasting. Very mild sweet fruity notes with malty biscuity backbone, which becomes more dominant. Sweet bisuity start, moderate bitterness with slight metallic aftertaste. Drinkable, not bad, but still not up there.

So, Heineken Hrvatska’s PR people reached me and told me they wanted me on their freebies list. I said OK, but if it sucks, I’ll write it sucks, they said OK, that’s fine by them. And so I got this and 2 other beers that I’ve had before. Anyway... the beer. Lovely, brilliantly clear old gold body with a small white head with medium retention. Perfumed aroma, white grapes, herbal notes, caramel, vague vegetal touch, but mostly pleasant. Mild taste, herbal hops dominating the deal, mixing with some perfumed and caramelly notes, light and dry, especially in the medium bitterness of the finish. Quite drinkable for the ABV. Slightly messy bitter finish - vague soapy notes, feet. The hop bill looks great, but very much obviously wasn’t used properly here - even more sad knowing that they certainly got far better hops than micros/craft brewers who do wonders with them did. It’s a pleasant beer, I’d venture even borderline tasty, but not balanced that well, and without that much appeal. Pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a macro IPA, worse than any IPAs and APAs on the market bar one really (it would be hard not to beat San Servolo’s "IPA"), but still technically a quality beer. You can do much worse than this if stranded in a macro-only place, but it cannot compete, as I said, with craft takes on the style around these parts.

0.33 l bottle at Jiggy’s bar, Zagreb. Drank from the bottle at a bad rehearsal. Medium hopped, nose is fruity, peach, brown sugar. Sweet with some subdued hops. Light body, soft carbonation. Some alcohol and metallic flavors in the finish. Sweet where it should be bitter. Tricks you with nice aroma, but gives you little.

Bottled 330ml. -from Vrutak Zagreb. Darker golden coloured, small white to off-white head, perfumed nose. Sweet malty, caramel, light herbal hops and notes of alcohol with sugary notes in the finish. Touch of perfumed orange also. Too sweet.

Bouteille(@Gaerbar, Hofstede):Deep golden, small and stable white head, clear; mild to moderate caramelly and grapefruity and tangeriney nose; moderate sweet-bitter flavour, medium bodied and quite smooth; slightly lingering caramelly and tangeriney finish. Not great, but very well quaffable…

On tap at a random bar in Amsterdam. Clear, golden amber with a medium large, frothy, white head. Sweetish-malty, slightly fruity aroma of caramel, tropical fruits, orange jam and some pine. Sweetish-malty, slightly fruity and a little resiny taste of caramel, tropical fruits, orange jam and some pine, followed by a short, slightly bitter, a little resiny finish. Medium body, slightly oily mouthfeel, soft carbonation. Quite okay.

Bottled. Amber colour with a small white creamy head, which vanishes quite quickly. Aroma is grains, some bread, mild citrus and some metallic notes. Flavour is quite similar, but without the metallic notes. Also the hoppiness has some harsh earthy notes to it. Better than expected, but still quite watery and "macro feel" to it.