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

(Draught at Moeder Lambic Fontainas, Brussels, 18 Oct 2019) Hazy golden colour with frothy, white head. Malty, fruity nose with bread, grainy malt and orange peel. Malty, fruity taste with notes of orange peel, candy sugar, caramel, citrus, pine needles and a balanced citric bitterness. Almost full body, with a certain sweetness. Balanced bitterness for and IIPA, backed up with a good malt structure. Nice one.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Double IPA brewed by No Science in collaboration with En Stoemelings, two of Brussels' hip 'nouvelle vague' breweries. Brewed with barley malt and wheat malt, but label unfortunately forgets to mention the hops used (Mandarina Bavaria plays the main part, apparently). Egg-white, thick and mousy, even-bubbled, tightly cobweb-lacing, stable head on an initially as good as clear, warm pale orangey peach blonde beer, misty and somewhat deeper golden-orange with sediment. Aroma of soggy peanuts, old dry rusk, dried dandelion leaves, 'herbes de Provençe', unripe banana, linseed, old dried out orange peel, tamarillo, paprika powder, gin, damp earth, apple peel. Cleanly fruity onset, mild estery accents of pineapple, pear and persimmon, but otherwise on the neutral side at first, fizzily carbonated with very pronounced, near-sourish minerally effects; smooth, full, slightly oily body, a bit grainy, cleanly bready and somewhat soapy, with hardly any sweetness to it. Musty, stale, old 'herbes de Provençe' effect in the finish, quit 'dusty' retronasally, with hardly any of the sweet fruity aspects I expect from Mandarina Bavaria (though a brief glimpse of sweet orange does pop up somewhere in the background); the hops do bring a rooty, long lasting, quinine-like bitterness, which halts all other flavours in the end, except for a slightly wry but otherwise not badly hidden 'jenever'-like alcohol effect. Feels like an old school West Coast IPA without the New World aromatics - as Nathan puts it below, this dramatically lacks hoppy aromas to qualify as a DIPA. If anything, this is closer to a very hoppy, clean and sleek type of tripel than a true (D)IPA. Earthy, a bit musty, grainy and rooty, this is not at all what I was expecting, but judged without the heavy burden of the 'IPA' moniker, it is not an upleasant beer, if you can take a serious degree of tonic-like bitterness. Strong 'pendant' of XX Bitter and the like, though much less yeasty - I must admit that I expected more from No Science (but not so much from En Stoemelings, to be frank...).

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

31/I/20 - 33cl bottle from a trade, shared @ nieuwjaarsetentje (De Brug), BB: IX/2020 (2020-78)

Slightly cloudy orange to amber beer, small white head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aorma: malty, bit herbal, some caramel, some tropical fruits, very fruity, apples as well, hint of vanilla, some apple skin. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: very malty, caramel, bit sweet, almost sugary, soft bitterness. Aftertaste: malty, bitter, bit fruity, caramel, some dried fruits, grains, sweet touch, hoppy, resinous.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

24 October 2019. At Moeder Lambic Fontainas, Brussels. Shared with the lovely Anke! Pours hazy golden with a lasting, small, frothy, off-white head; lots of lacing. Aroma of plain malt, old cheese, apple sauce, pear, apricot, breadcrust. Taste is medium malty sweet, quite bready, honeyish, biscuity, with ripe apple & apricot, some bitter grass & spices, vague 'aromatic' stonefruit. Dry, grassy & floral hoppy finish, more ripe yellow fruit, remaining yeasty, cheesy almost. Medium body, creamy texture, fizzy carbonation. Not aromatic enough for a DIPA. Too yeasty, basic, Belgian perhaps.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8.5

Draft @GIST, Brussels

Sampled at Brassigaume 2019. A hazy deep golden beer with a white lacing. Aroma of mild sweet strong pale malt, yeast. Taste of caramelized malt, biscuit, dry grainy malt. Okay!

Probably the best to come out of either of the collaborating breweries! (Although I love IIPAs, so slightly biased)