Fles 33cl thuis. Hop, lekker bitter, droog, grassig, pine, citroen. Wat zepig. (5-2017).

Bottle at home from AH. Clear golden with white head. Full blown sun ripened tangerines, light caramel, oatmeal, flour, sweetened orange tea and biscuits. Moderate sweet and quite bitter. Under medium body and soft carbonation. Quite alright, fruitiness disappears a bit soon in the finish.

Oranjegeel bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is bitter hoppig en fruitig met iets van ananas, grapefruit en sinaasappel. Zeker niet slecht !

Ducato’s take at the - now - classic West Coast IPA style, American style bottle from an Albert Heijn supermarket with cheerful, simple and summery label. Amusing - or perhaps alarming - to see the text "brewed with noble American hops" on the front label, as "noble hops" traditionally refers to the old, classic European varieties, as opposed to the new, more aromatically expressive American varieties... But anyway, here we go nonetheless: cobweb-lacing, medium thick, off-white head, dissolving into a thin ’landmap’ in the middle but firmly and thickly - though ’irregularly’ - clinging to the edge, deep ’old gold’ robe with warm, pale orange hue, made hazy and eventually completely misty by a suspension of translucent, tiny yeast dots everywhere, perturbed by a thin string of bubbles here and there. Citrusy and soapy aroma of mandarins, marmelade, sugared lime juice, orange jelly candy, fresh basil leaves, straw, hay, dried apricot, old cake, homemade lemonade, bitter honey, mango chutney, unripe cherry tomatoes, hand soap, armpit sweat, mineral water. Juicy, quite vivid onset, clean, hints of mandarin, soapy starfruit and green banana, more sweet than sour though a certain green plum-like sourish touch lurks in the background; very lean, slick, thinnish mouthfeel offered more body purely by the hops, which become apparent from the start in an initially subtle way. Onwards to the middle, a gentle but somewhat understated and therefore lightly ’watery’ biscuity malt sweetness lends support to the increase of the hop factor, carrying the initial fruity flavours to a drying finish, where a citrus peel-like bitterness is positioned alongside vague herbal and earthy notes, the earthiness being accentuated by the suspended yeast especially after adding the sediment, but not descending into unpleasant ’starchiness’. Instead, the finish remains relatively clean considering the look and feel of this beer, with expressively aromatic lime and mandarin notes returning retronasally and a resinous bitterness sticking to the back of the mouth and the throat - though all remaining fairly gentle in comparison to many ’real’ West Coast IPAs from Californian craft brewers. Convincing as an IPA for sure, but requires less yeastiness and more expressive - if not abrasive - ’citrus peel hop bitterness’ to truly qualify as a West Coast IPA. Very nice attempt though, and I probably should take into consideration the fact that I’m having this from a bottle took from a supermarket shelf rather than farm-fresh from tap - as I can imagine this being really refreshing, cleaner and much more expressively ’citrussy’ then, especially since this is Ducato, one of Italy’s premium craft brewers as far as I’m concerned. On a side note: nice to find Italian craft beer in a supermarket located in Belgium these days, there is no stopping the craft beer revolution it seems, so for that reason alone I will recommend this to as many people as possible - without this aspect influencing my rating here, of course.

33 cl. bottle @ home, bought @ Albert Heijn, Culemborg. Hazy yellow with a white head. Malty aroma with some citrus hops. Medium bitter taste. A standard light IPA, nothing fancy but tasty.

Bottle at home, orange beer, small head. Aroma is malt, citrus, tropical fruit. Taste is the same, bitter, some sweetness, ok beer.

Tap at Lupulus Bologna. Bright, dry, fruity nose, grapefruit, minerals, sweat. Clear, deep gold. Crisp pilsner-like malt, very crackery, dry, citrus hops, pepper. Crisp, dry finish. Good.

Bottle from Albert Heijn. Slight hazy darker golden with small off white head. Light pineapple and mango, bitter herbs, caramel, soft bready malts, fresh berries and a bit of basil. Just medium sweet, medium bitter and a tart touch. Medium bodied. Decent enough.