Dréke
Brouwerij De Vlier in Holsbeek, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 🇧🇪
Belgian Style - Strong Ale Regular|
Score
6.51
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Alengrin (11561) reviewed Dréke from Brouwerij De Vlier 5 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Strong blonde beer fermented with lager yeast, so strictly speaking a strong pale lager, hopped with wild hops grown in the garden of the brewer's neighbour, a man called André, hence the name Dréke (an affectionate diminutive form of André); only 400 bottles made, actually a second batch, but the first one was never released due to infection caused by the hops - a problem solved in the second batch by macerating the hops in wodka first (!). From De Hopduvel, now over three years old (bottled in mid-February 2017). Thick and pillowy, eggshell-white, stable head on an initially lightly hazed, pure 'metallic' golden blonde beer, turning into a misty, somewhat deeper apricot-hued blonde with sediment. Aroma of herb cheese and old abbey cheese rind (the hops having become cheesy due to age), freshly cut celery, lemon thyme, dried dill, margarine, soap, white bread pulp, meadow flowers such as buttercup and white nettle, green plant stalks, dried lemon zest, Conference pear, iron, straw, apple peel, minerals. Spritzy onset, lively carbonated, very 'crystalline'; very light fruity aspects of green pear and apple, supple body, a tad metallic at the edges. Pale malt cerealliness paired with a light-footed soapy wheatiness and a clearly noticeable oat creaminess, leading to a medium long finish with a 'green', very grassy effect as well as a lot of floral hoppiness (camomile, white nettle, blossoming lemonbalm, Dutch clover); the bitterness is relatively gentle (as is usually the case with wild-hopped beers) but nevertheless stretches out over the root of the tongue in a pleasant, elegantly quenching way. Granted, the hops have gone cheesy by now so I guess I should have bought this in 2017 and not now, but they have also retained subtle yet elegant, grassy and floral qualities with a very 'rustic', meadow-like effect, something I can hugely appreciate. Creamy, albeit a tad metallic, but easily drinkable and different - for a Belgian-made strong pale lager, this is considerably better than I was expecting.
tderoeck (22679) reviewed Dréke from Brouwerij De Vlier 8 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
Imported from my RateBeer account as De Vlier Dreke (by Brouwerij De Vlier):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 5/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 11/20, MyTotalScore: 2.8/5
18/IV/17 - 75cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent) @ American BBQ Guy Tasting (ElManana+1's place) - BB: 1/III/20 (2017-458) Thanks to Erwin for sharing the bottle!
Clear dark blond beer, small creamy white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: bit sweet, almonds, bit oxidized, yeast, overripe banana. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: bit sweet start, malty, soft bitterness, yeast, bit metallic, some orange peel. Aftertaste: little bitter, hoppy, yeast, almonds, bit oxidized.