thanks tderoeck

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

Bottle from LDW. Hazy amber colour, white foam. Rather lively carbonation. Medium sweet, a bit bitter, citrussy.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Batch three (numbered BSV72) of what seems to be the first beer by a hobby brewing project originally named Rebel Brewers, but meanwhile rebaptized to Brewing Rebels, located in Herzele (southeast of Ghent). The name, I presume, refers to the Azacca hop variety, a New World hop developed in 2013. Thick and frothy, very intricately 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, eggshell-white, stable, closed head on a misty straw blonde beer with deeper ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of old potatoes, soggy old bread, brown soap, damp straw, parsnip stew, indeed a clear resinous echo of pine needles no doubt coming from the Azacca, vague spruce resin even, freshly cut red apples, black radish, vague background notes of liquorice, bergamot, unripe peach, Sichuan pepper (probably just the Azacca again) and raw cauliflower. Sweetish onset, some background banana ester but also hints of apple, peach and hard Conference pear, light sourish touch, lively carbonation with strong minerally effects; slick, smooth-edged and eventually somewhat soapy body. Old-bready, soggy sandwich- and breakfast cereal-like, rather boring malt profile, relatively low in residual sugars but spiced with soapy coriander seed and in that sense feeling very 'Belgian' in the blandest way possible; the hops do add a light piney accent that sets this brew apart from other Belgian blondes, but in a much too subtle way, with bready maltiness, earthy yeastiness, coriander soapiness and unripe peach-like fruitiness maintaining the upper hand. The Azacca hops never really get the chance to shine - as is often the case in this kind of very local attempts at craft beer: as the American saying goes, the porch's light is on, but nobody is home... Too many Belgian brewers of humble ambition think that they can change the world by adding some fancy 'craft beer' element to a generally classic and boring blonde or tripel (or dubbel or quadrupel for all I care), but I maintain that it is a pity - if not a sin - to use something like Azacca and hardly giving it a chance to shine and show its full potential of not just the piney aspect that can admittedly be found here, but also melon and tropical fruits, by using it too sparsely (because yes, these new wave hops are expensive), being afraid of dry-hopping, leaving it to be buried alive under 'Belgian' yeast effects or - worse even, and quite obvious in this case - pitting it against that hackneyed soapy coriander seed that has silently spread from witbier to other classic Belgian styles in the past generations. A pity it is, this beer, but being the righteous judge that I am, I will grant it an average score for showing no major technical flaws.

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

Sampled at Gents bierfestival 2018. Thnx for sharing, everyone ! Pours unclear blonde, small white head. Smell is weak, tad yeasty. Not convincingly so, though. Taste is sharp. Bit bitter, yeasty. High Carbo. Overly phenolic ( plastic like ending)

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

Thanks to sharing RB crew. Sampled @ Gents Bierfestival 2018. Orange hazy, lacing creamy white head. Nose is mothballs, spoiled BE yeast, insecticide, herbal, stale,… Plastic, mothballs, insecticide, stale mothballs, chemical, meh,…. Not a fan.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Small yellowish head over pale yellow beer. Herbs, garden weeds, pale malts. Sweetish undefined herbs, dull hops. Bit almondy, mainly in the finish. Undercarbonated, finishing lame. Bof.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Imported from my RateBeer account as Rebel Brewers Azacca Bastard (by OostEke Brouwers):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 5/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 10/20, MyTotalScore: 2.8/5

18/VIII/18 - 33cl bottle @ Gents Bierfestival - BB: n/a (2018-1016) Thanks to the Belgian Ratebeer crew for sharing today's beers!

Little cloudy blond beer, creamy yellowish head, bit adhesive. Aroma: malty, grains, sweetish, ripe banana, sugary impression. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: very malty, grains, bitter, pretty metallic, banana. Aftertaste: bitter, grains, cow fodder, malty.