Perfect Match Rood Vlees / Viande Rouge
Delhaize in Brussel / Bruxelles / Brussels, Brussels Capital Region, Belgium 🇧🇪
Brewed at/by: De ProefbrouwerijBelgian Style - Strong Ale Special Out of Production
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Score
6.65
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Thick yellow-beige head, pitting in over hazy metallic foxy-amber beer. Roasted nose, caramelised light-brown sugar (cassonade), some wood, pepper, spices, dried woodberries. Bitterish, again woody. Sugar/restsugars arrive later, but the finish has a touch of harsher mineral bitterness. Again hints at (green) herbs/spices. Medium bodied at least; hides the alcohol; bit harsh in the aftertaste. Easily the best of the Perfect Match series, as well as the most complex. Moreover, this is the first from the clutch that can stand on its own, displaying real character.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Another one in a whole string of beers commissioned by Delhaize this year, each one intended to accompany a specific type of food, red meat (steak, for example) in this case. Bottle (75 cl with crown cap) from the Delhaize in Lokeren; note that each of these Perfect Match beers also has a (practically) non-alcoholic equivalent, bottled in 33 cl 'trappist' bottles. Medium thick, intricately cobweb-lacing, off-white, bit irregular but very stable head; initially clear, warm 'metallic' orange robe with deep amberish hue, misty with sediment. Aroma of sweetbread, bubblegum, soap, red apple, banana, iron, tulips, peach, gin, soggy peanuts, butterscotch, pear peel. Sweetish onset, banana-bubblegum ester, notes of apple and peach, rounded and notably soapy, soft mouthfeel, medium carbonated. Slick, almost creamy caramelly maltiness with a very thin nutty edge but residual white candi syrup as well with honeyish effect; tad metallic at its edges too. Hop bitterness remains volatile and subtle, a tad floral, but it is the overall soapiness and dull sweetishness of this beer that remains dominant, along with a generally well-hidden hint of gin-like alcohol. Typical strong Belgian amber ale, basically a tripel in disguise really, very clean and straightforward with a soapiness that bothered me a bit in the end; not much happens here, to be honest. Rather forgettable but in any case not as bad as feared based on that unpleasant and completely redundant non-alcoholic version I had last week.