Bottle @Les Vignerons (Rome). Ambrata, un filo torbida, schiuma avorio media, molto persistente. Al naso note di malto, leggero floreale, erba tagliata, lievito. In bocca è dolce, maltata, con finale appena amaro, secca. Corpo medio-leggero, carbonazione medio-bassa. Si beve che è un piacere!

Hazy dark blond colour with quick fading head. Aroma and flavour have some lightly toasted malts. Growing bitterness in the finish.

Bottle. Color: Hazy amber, off-white head. Aroma: Caramel malt, yeast, hop. Taste: Caramel malt, moderate to medium sweet, biscuit, combined with spicy and lightly banana yeast and moderate to medium bitter grassy hop. Nice over medium bittery finish. Medium body, below average carbonation. Very nice, typical De Ranke, beer. I love the hopbitterness of this one.

Clear, golden to amber colored, small white head. Aroma is of pale malt and some caramel, spicy yeasty and herbal hoppy notes. Medium- sweet malt, light caramel, herbal moderate hops and some spicy yeast, medium bitterness, dry finish. Light bodied, soft+ carbonation, oily.

Flaska från belgiuminabox. Orangebrun disig vätska med medelhögt kompakt skum som lämnar mycket rester. Estrigt fruktig doft med massor av belgojäst, örter, kryddor. Söt och fruktig, söta äpplen, jäst, koriander men också betydande beska a la xx bitter med pomeranskaraktär. Lätt anslag men mycket karaktär. MYcket trevligt tillskott i Rankefamiljen.

23/03/2019 - draught glass @Moeder Lambic Fontainas. Clear golden, nice white head. Nose is malts, caramel, bit fruits. Taste is malts, caramal, bit fruits, unripe banana, yeast, soft bitter ending.

33cl bottle from Malting Pot bottle shop in Brussels. F: medium, egg-white, average to good retention. C: deep amber, hazy. A: malty, caramel, bit herbal, bready, yeasty, fruity, floral, melon. T: malty, caramel, herbal long lasting bitterness, yeasty, bready, banana, leaves, bit weird all together, medium body and carbonation, pretty bitter and that is nice but not the best balanced all together.

New De Ranke beer made for the Spéciale Belge Taproom in Antwerp - so in terms of style, the choice for a classic 'spéciale belge' or Belgian amber beer was easily made, I assume. Egg-white, frothy, rather thick, bit irregular, thickly paper-lacing, stable head over a cloudy peach blonde beer with brownish-amber tinge - yet not quite the pure, reddish amber I expect from a 'spéciale belge'. Malty, yeasty-phenolic and estery aroma of peach jam, bubblegum, banana bread, cloves, half-dry orange peel, brown soap, dried apricot, sweetclover, old biscuit cake, baker's yeast, pear drops, fresh wormwood leaves, roses, green melon, touches of lavender and vague eucalyptus. Fruity onset, estery with banana, red apple and peach, sweetish but relatively restrainedly so, vague underlying sourishness, lively carbonation but acceptable for a Belgian ale, touch of bubblegum underneath; soft, fluffy mouthfeel, quite full for its ABV, pleasantly bready malt body with soft doughy middle and thin nutty edges, remaining covered in fruity esters and - especially towards the finish - strong spicy phenols, very clove- and even a bit lavender-like, flirting with medicinality but nonetheless remaining agreeable in this environment. Finishes quite hop bitter in an earthy, leafy, peppery way, a kind of wet 'greenness' of the hops, lingering and drying, with a fairly thick layer of bready, almost powdery yeastiness and remaining phenols on top. Feels strangely fuller than 5.2% ABV, almost tripel-like, with a yeastiness and hoppiness that is clearly recognizable as De Ranke; for a Belgian amber, the way it was intended, it seems to lack some nuttiness and 'cleanness', though. That said, I prefer a big yeasty and hoppy De Ranke ale of whatever subkind over the slick, streamlined profile of the classic, semi-industrial 'spéciale belge' beers I grew up with, to be honest, so I will not let style issues get in the way of my enjoyment of this thoroughly Belgian ale.