Bottle, 8.6%. Hazy golden with tiny off-white head. Aroma is malt, caramel, toasted, fruit, hops, little peach, little dusty and grapefruit. Flavour is malt, fruit, hops, caramel, pine, grapefruit, medium sweet, little peach, little dusty and bitter.

Bomber from Fontana in Sint-Niklaas. Only after purchasing, having become enthusiastic over the fact that my local bottle shop is carefully beginning to venture into American craft, did I read that this was bottled three years ago - way too old for an American style DIPA of course, but anyway. Irregular, moussy, snow white head, retaining well on the edge but quickly dissipating in the middle, over a lightly hazy ’old gold’ coloured beer with warm light orangey tinge, turning to a cloudy, more ochre-hued peach with sediment. Aroma must have faded after all this time but, much to my surprise, still smells relatively ’fresh’, with only a subtle amount of cardboard- and slightly cooked chicken-like oxidation; otherwise this still smells like any decent DIPA: grapefruit peel, cheese crackers (age has something to do with this but it comes out quite pleasant actually), biscuit, dried mango, barbecue spices, fresh wormwood, gin, parsley, pine resin, old dried lemon zest, olive oil, amaro, egg yolk. Clean but lively fruitiness in the onset, hints of starfruit, tangerine, green olive and some light mango, subdued sweetishness with equally subdued sourishness, minerally side notes here and there, softish but adequate carbonation, supple and oily mouthfeel. Hop ’stings’ are noticeable from the start. Biscuity and lightly cookie-like malt body, a tad toasted in the end but very softly so, making room for a wave of uncompromizing, spicy, very pungent hop bitterness, coating the back of the mouth and the throat, grapefruity, piney and tonic water-like, with some of the pine and citrus peel aromas rising up retronasally and a resinous effect clinging to the teeth, before being tied together - rather than interrupted - by an afterglow of gin-like alcohol which carries the dry, miles long, resinous hop bitterness and traces of the biscuity malt ’softness’ downwards. There is no doubt that the bouquet of this beer was a lot more fragrant and lush when it was young so it is unfortunate I stumbled upon this older bottle, but the flavor as such has held up remarkably well; oxidation is there of course, but limitedly so, and the hop bitterness is as vigorous as it must have been in young condition. I think the aroma, obviously the most delicate component of any ’new’ IPA, is the only thing that suffered a bit, but I suspect this bomber has been kept in good conditions and this is still a very enjoyable, bold and exemplary, if not delicious example of the style. Glad I bought it, all things considered.

Sample from shared bottle @ De Molen, thanks Menno & John. Hazy golden yellow color. White head. Aroma’s: citrus, hops. Retronasal it’s more resinous, citrussy, bitter. Flavor is moderate to full bitter with light sweetness. Medium bodied. Finishes with resin, herbal, moderate bitter.

Pours a hazy golden yellow with small head. Aroma is marked by tropical and citrus fruits. Flavor is very bitter upfront. Taste is very bitter and hoppy, almost a pot-like taste. Bitter finish.

Bottle at tasting. Golden pour. Aroma of caramel, malt and peach, not a good sign. Watery taste of caramel, malt and peach as well. Where are the hops? Where is the bitterness? This was a bummer.

Sampled at a tasting. Clean golden pale pour with a small white head. Smells of honey, grapefruit and tropical fruits. Crisp and refreshing, with taste notes that include grapefruit, pine and some tropical fruits.