6

dok beer festival 2019

6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle 330ml. @ home in the conservatory.

[ As Totenhopfen Humming Sour ].
ABV: 4.0%. Clear medium yellow colour with a small to average, frothy - fizzy, fair lacing, mostly lasting to diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate malty, pale malt, spearmint - minty, pineapple, light sweet malt. Flavor is moderate sweet with a average duration, pale malt - wheat, pineapple, dry, light spearmint - minty. Body is medium to light, texture is watery, carbonation is soft to flat. [20200722]
7-3-7-3-14

5.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Sour ale with pineapple from this young and enthusiastic microbrewery in Luxemburg, thanks Craftmember for sharing. Snow white, mousy, medium thick, open and loose head on a hazy straw blonde beer with khaki tinge. Aroma of pickled gherkins, vague raw (but not actually sweet) pineapple touch indeed, chalk, crushed green gooseberries, spoiled chervil soup and even rotting cucumber flesh. Fruity onset, estery, notes of gherkins and green plums, soft carb, thin, bit oily body; cereally and white-bready ‘soil’ softly dried by lactic tartness, straightforward and accompanied by a strong chalky aspect; very light herbal ‘whiff’ in the end (which I first thought was hops, but it was probably that mint accent), but much more spoiled cucumber effects again, not very pleasant to be honest. Hardly pineapple-like, the pineapple does not even seem to add much acidity and adds little to no flavour at all; the off-flavours, probably of bacterial origin, makes this rather hard to drink. Sometimes a sour ale originates as a ‘happy accident’ when a normal top-fermented beer turns infected with just the right microbes in just the right proportions – this, however, feels like the other way around. Not a success yet, it seems Totenhopfen’s youthful enthusiasm got the better of them. Sour ales are not an easy thing to master, it takes a lot of time, knowledge, experience and dedication to achieve sour ales at a high quality level, but Totenhopfen is young and ambitious, so who knows, one day in the future…

7

33cl bottle. A clear yellow golden beer with a white head. Aroma of sour pineapple, grapes, pale malt. Taste of sour grapes, pineapple, wheat, lactic fruits, hints of mint.

6.9

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Sampled at Strasbourg Craft Festival. Hazy pale yellow straw with white head. Light spicy hops, roasted pineapple, wheat, kettle sour, light popcorn, white pepper, light flowery. Under medium sweet and sour, light bitter. Almost medium bodied with light creamy feel. A bit all over the place, but quite drinkeable.

6.6

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

13 September 2019. At Dok Brewing Company, Ghent. Cheers to the Teamleader colleagues! Pours clear golden with a lasting, very thin, frothy, off-white head. Aroma of canned pineapple, pineapple juice, unripe melon, wheat, lemon, mint leaves, sourdough, hay. Taste is light to medium fruity sour, quite wheaty & lemony with a yeasty & sourdough-like edge, sweetish pineapple & unripe pear over bitter hay, touch of spicy mint. More bitter in the dryish, tart, wheaty finish, low earthy hops, lingering mint & pineapple. Medium body, slick & ‘chalky’ texture, fizzy carbonation. Bit of a weird combination but it adds the right accents.

7

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

33cl bottle from Artisan'Ale in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. F: thin, white, quick gone. C: blonde, light hazy. A: light sour fruity, peach, floral, bit apricot, bit lemon water, bit pineapple, bit herbal touch. T: light sour fruity, peach, bit lemon, bit pineapple, bit puckering yet not very sour, light body and medium carbonation, very nice balanced, super easy drinkable, refreshing, enjoyed.