Kerel New England Session IPA
VBDCK Brewery in Tielrode, East Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
IPA - Session New England / Hazy Regular|
Score
6.66
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
33cl bottle. A minimal hazy yellow golden beer with a white head. Aroma of sweet wheat malt, citrus, banana and grains. Taste of citrus, sweet wheat malt, yeast, moderate bitterness and carbonation.
mike_77 (15875) reviewed Kerel New England Session IPA from VBDCK Brewery 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5
Pale yellow colour with no head. Aroma has loads of tropical fruits. Taste is a bit flat and stale. No gas either
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Pours hazy ochre with a lasting, small, frothy, off-white head. Aroma and taste have a hoppy lager profile with subtle tropical fruit accents: peach, unripe mandarin, pineapple, mango. Bit yeasty, grassy. Dryish, floral hoppy finish, a tad piney with lingering yeastiness. Medium body, oily texture, fizzy carbonation. Slick & refreshing but needed more 'power' in the juicy taste department.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Fluffy white head over hazy yellow beer with fine, lively carbonation, end of bottle yeast loosening. Fruity, grapey hops' nose, buttermilk, lunaria, passion fruit. Bitterish flavour, streak of tobacco, rainwater, faint fruity esters. Diluted lime juice and lime peel, lunaria. Light body, good carbonation, refreshing. Nice.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Imported from my RateBeer account as VBDCK Kerel New England Session IPA (by VBDCK Brewery):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.6/5
21/X/18 - 33cl bottle, shared @ home, BB: 14/IX/19 - (2018-1592) Thanks to Alengrin for the bottle!
Slightly cloudy pale beige beer, small creamy irregular off-white head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: some citrus, bit grassy, grapefruit, sweet ripe tropical fruits, some passion fruits. MF: ok carbon, light body. Taste: bit watery, pretty bitter, some grapefruit, very dry, very bitter, bit chemical. Aftertaste: some tropical fruits, very bitter, grassy, bit metallic, chemical finish, citrus notes, very bitter.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7.5
The newest Kerel, since last week; from the trusted stubby 'pharmacist' bottle, bought at the brewery. Session IPA in the New England style, so I guess I could have put it under that new hazy IPA category just as well, depending on which aspect you think is more important for the overall beer than the other. Egg-white, very regular, moussy, hardly lacing, medium thick head, opening in the middle but with a flat 'veil' of foam remaining; completely cloudy appearance from the start, apricot blonde with straw blonde edges. Aroma of indeed luscious tropical hop effects, mango, mandarin, yuzu and ripe lime 'citrusness', granadilla, papaja, pineapple juice, green hop powder, tropical orchids, sweetbread, pink pepper, ground dry ginger, Thai basil, minerals, glazed pear, wormwood leaves, touch of honey. Fruity onset, sweetish core of ripe mandarin, pineapple and mango but in a restrained kind of way, with a lime-like sourish edge; lively carbonation with minerally side effects but not too harsh. Supple, 'fluffy' but basically also thin and even slightly watery mouthfeel, powdery effects, cereally maltiness, white bread and slight biscuit with notable soft oatmeal effect, under a growing hoppiness reiterating the tropical effects from the nose in a somewhat more restrained way, with mostly unripe mango, lots of fresh citrus and a dash of exotic pepper shining through. Meanwhile, the hops add quite outspoken, powdery, leafy, peppery bitterness covering the back of the mouth in even a bit resinous way, lasting quite long and lending body to an otherwise essentially thin beer. Maybe 2.5% ABV - less than the 'tripel' type of Belgian table beers, for example - is just a little bit too modest even for a session IPA, maybe this would have worked better at a slightly higher alcohol strength and a bit more body, but these are petty details: there is no denying that for a 2.5% IPA, this is full of delicate, fragrant aromas, packed with exotic citrus and in that sense very 'sunny', bright and very highly quenchable. The powdery hop bitterness is perhaps a tad much - it lingers much longer than I would expect from a beer carrying the New England specification in its name; all things put together, this is therefore clearly more successful as a session IPA than as a NEIPA, which meets my expectations. Still: very cleverly done, colourful and inviting to drink, confidently hopped and clean enough without disturbing Belgian yeast effects, at least at this very young age - but then, this kind of beers are of course meant to be consumed as young as possible, so get them while you can. Within its specific premise, possibly the best Kerel beer so far? Do drink this young, though, as the hoppy fragrance declines exceptionally quickly here...