Kamielke - Hopkamiel 2017

Towering dense yellowish head, very stable, over clear copperish-golden beer, lively carbonated. End of bottle solid yeast. Huge head seriously hampering nasal perception. Some toasted & pale malts, yeast. Bit bitterish at first, mostly neutral with a faint, nearly sweetish malt + wheat character. Hint at vegetables. Finish has finaly some Contintental hops appearing. Spritzy carbonation, bit wheatslick, medium bodied. Neutral, uninteresting, superfluous beer. Bit like Zomergem, I suppose.

24 February 2019. Wieze Bierfestival - cheers to Meeki, Ama Deke & the lovely Anke! Clear golden with a lasting, thin, frothy, off-white head; some lacing. Aroma of apple sauce, pear, white bread, yeast, apricot, orange, faint lime, cooked cabbage. Taste is light fruity sweet, notes of apple, pear & apricot, and light to medium hoppy bitter, with orange peel, grass, some yeast & dank onion, touch of honeyish & bready malt in the back. Dryish, grassy & bit piney hoppy finish, more apple (sauce) & honey. Still very much goody-goody.

Allegedly 'hoppy tripel' from De Biersmid, a young commissioner in Zomergem, not far from Ghent so strange that I haven't encountered their beer in Ghent so far. Bottle at Just Beer. Snow white, tightly cobweb-lacing, medium thick, moussy head over clear warm 'metallic' old golden robe. Aroma of dried camomile, banana, raw turnip, white bread slices, young 'jenever', clear and disturbing DMS (I hate it), grass, bubblegum, green apple. Sweet banana ester in the onset, ripe pear and raw pineapple with a light green apple note, very lively and stinging carbonation, smooth and straightforward pale malt sweetish body, white bread and cereals, leading to a mildly florally hoppy finish which remains very subtle in actual hop bitterness, so that malt sweetishness keeps prevailing, with a touch of that DMS returning retronasally - stronger than any hop character. If you promote your beer as being moderately hop-forward without venturing into IPA territory as is the case here, then at least make sure it bears enough actual hop bitterness; this is just a bland, straightforward, bit 'empty' and stereotypical tripel. But I'm willing to revisit it in younger condition if it ever makes it into the pubs of Ghent, considering how my colleagues below did pick up the dry-hopping; perhaps the sample I got was just a bit too old?