07/08/2016 - 33cl bottle from Malt Attacks, Brussels. Orange colour with mediem beige head. Nose is a bit sweet malty, caramel. Taste is first fruity, some caramel, bitterness, some sweetness. Nothing special but quite OK.

Wallonian ’ambrée’ from a 50 cl can - apparently this is the first Belgian brewery to use craft beer cans for ’artisanal’ beers. They do not yet master this well enough, though: like the witbier I had from them last week, this can was under heavy pressure (even ’palpably’) so opening it resulted in violent gushing - sigh... Elaborately cobweb-lacing, off-white, moussy head with decent retention, overlying a deep and warm, slightly hazy orange blonde beer with pinkish hue, perhaps a tad too light and not ’red’ enough to be called true amber. Estery, very fruity aroma of overripe peach, lots of soggy banana, nice lime peel and lemon blossom freshness from the Centennial, powder sugar, almond, pomegranate, passion fruit, freshly baked cake, stewed apple, honey, peanuts, wet leather touch, minerals, hint of ’naturally feeling’ iron. Fruity onset of the expected combination of sweet and sour fruits, both relatively intense, with impressions of pineapple, banana, passion fruit, gooseberry, hint of mandarin peel; strong and spritzy carbonation but not disturbing me in this case. Caramelly and nutty malts in the middle, sweetish with a strong toasted bitter edge, bit metallic as well; esters keep lingering on top of this and carry on till deep into the finish, where they are met with a quite sharp, peppery, grapefruity hop bitterness, sticking to the throat for a relatively long time and at the same time displaying a retronasal fragrance of orange peel, lemon blossom and a whiff of pine. Too bad for the gushing, but otherwise a decent, aromatic Belgian amber with American ambitions; there is an effective hop bitterness providing enough balance against the sweet fruitiness and due to the yeastiness, it has certain saison-like aspects to it as well, but we all know how tricky it is trying to define that. I especially appreciate the fact that they aim to showcase an American hop variety here without much reservation or ’fear’ of how the Belgian consumer might be shocked by this - we need more of this in Belgium, yet in this case the delicate Centennial bouquet clashes a bit with the Belgian yeast esters, so a cleaner yeast strain would perhaps have been better (yet would have made this a lot less ’Belgian’ and much more APA-like at the same time, doubtlessly). In all, and whatever it is: quite enjoyable.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Belgo Sapiens Colonel Arch (by Belgo Sapiens Brewers):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5

17/I/16 - 50cl can in a trade from Malt Attacks (Brussel) @ Algemene Vergadering Gentse Biervereniging - BB: 11/IX/2016 (2016-48) Thanks to Bierridder_S for the trade!

Clear orange beer, big creamy solid beige to yellow head, very stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: sweet, caramel, some banana, bit spicy. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: fruity start, bitter, bit sweet, some exotic fruits, caramel, malty. Aftertaste: bitter, citrus, grapefruit, somewhat sweet, sugary, bit of banana, grassy, honey, sweet malts, more sugar.

Canned. Pours clear and dark amber, ok white head. Smell is rather sweet, malty. Taste is sharp and grainy. metallic, bit roasty even. Aromatic maltyness, and a decent bitterness. OK , but something seems off here, I can’t quite describe. Mildly chemical, I’d say

Can shared thanks to Deanso. Pours hazy amber with a small off white head. Aroma of grassy and weedy hops, light grapefruit and malt. Flavour is light sweet and over moderate bitter. Above light bodied with soft carbonation.

50cl can shared with a friend. Thin white head. Hazy amber pour. Slight bitterness. Pretty decent

50cl can @ weekly tasting shared with Dutchdrebus and Thompson. Clear a bit rusty amber color, medium to full sized off-white to light beige head that lasts for quite a long time. Aroma is malts, grainy, old hops. Taste malts, old hops, iron, rusty. Firm carbonation. Meh.

Bottle @ benzai. Clear amber colour with a medium sized white head. Smells malts, slightly roasty, slightly barley wine. Tastes slightly hoppy, rusty, iron. Thin to medium body, soft carbo.

500 ml. can. BBF 11/09/2016. Pours clear darker amber, small off-white / tanned head. Nose is weird, sweet old herbs, spices, sticky old caramel, dried fruit, old toffee, caramel & toffee malty with big herbs & some Christmas spices but not thick or sticky, rather dry & herbal. Taste is this dry herbal profile with leaves, licorice & Christmas spices, quite dry, very odd hop profile with some dry old toffee, caramel & leaves in the back. Very dry, leaves, licorice & herbs body. Easy to try, really dries out the mouth, very unusual hop profile, the flavors are Belgian in their build-up but I have never had them combined them this way, it isn’t bitter, just massively dry. The notes almost remind me of some oxidized notes but you get none of the cardboard etc., just dry, leaves, herbs,… Those kinds of things. It is definitely not USA style like the label suggests but it is an interesting beer. Albeit a bit too interesting for me but I can see the right pallet really going for this one.