04 /10 /2017 @home - 25cl bottle from a trade with tderoeck. Clear golden with big white head. Nose is grains, caramel touch, fruits. Taste is bitter hops, bit raw, grapefruit, dry

Mild getreidiger Start. Die Hopfigkeit ist unterdurchschnittlich ausgprägt. Okay. 10/8/9/8//8

Pale blond with light haze. Aroma and flavour have a light hop bitterness. Slightly soapy hop taste.

Sampled @ Zythos Bier Festival 2017. Klare goldgelbe Farbe. Geruch ist mild hopfig, dezent süß. Geschmack ist mild hopfig, hell Malzig, langweilig.

The fourth installment of this ’13’ series, which tries to revive the old pale lager in a world teeming with craft beers of top (and mixed) fermentation, unpasteurized and with ’fresh’ hops; apparently these (Hallertau Mittelfrüh) have not been dried, effectively making this a ’wet hop’ beer (which is often used synonymously with ’fresh hop’ anyway, at least in the Anglo-Saxon beer world). Had this from tap at Trollekelder last week - and ordered a second one, probably the first time in my entire life I order the same pale lager twice, so I was anxious to put this under further scrutiny, from a bottle at home. Moussy, medium thick, fairly dense but slowly dissipating, snow white head leaving nice dots of lacing, crowning a cristal clear, pure pale golden coloured beer with slightly greenish tinge; turns equally and elegantly misty and deeper ’old gold’ with the sediment added in the end. Aroma of lots of dried field flowers (sweetclover), cucumber, sweetish cheese spread and even ripe abbey cheese, soggy breakfast cereals, white pepper, straw, minerals, cornbread, hay, dried moss, freshly cut garden weeds, cloth, chalk, very faint touch of green apple (acetaldehyde). Crisp onset, sharp minerally carbonation but perfectly fine for this style, grainy and lean with no estery fruitiness (which isn’t to be expected from a lager anyway), light and very supple mouthfeel, minerally accents continuing and carbonation even numbing the tip of the tongue; a hint of cereally roundness in the middle, but otherwise the malt profile remains very grainy, fortunately without corn slickness, though I do suspect malt extract has been used. The strength of this ’pils’ lies in its finish, which is drenched in an indeed fresh, ’wet’, almost chlorophyl-like, noble, floral and grassy, eventually even ’dimly’ peppery hop bitterness, which dries the throat to that extent that there is no trace of graininess left in the end. I already suspected Hallertau Mittelfrüh before I knew that this was indeed the variety applied here - if you apply it this fresh and unhindered by yeastiness or heavy maltiness, then clearly the typical floral and straw-like or hayish Hallertau character jumps out of the glass in all its glory. This is far removed from what the average Belgian - or any non-beer-geek - consumer expects from a ’pilsje’, in fact this is amply enough hopped to qualify as a full-fledged Pilsener of unmistakable northern German inspiration. Bland pale lager is exactly what the international whole craft beer movement has revolted against since the seventies and eighties and this has lead to a plethora of flavors and styles as we all know, but it is rare that a modern craft brewing project specializes in pale lager only to make it better - or, perhaps, more credible in comparison with all those craft beers. Maybe these guys were just being nostalgic for a time when pale lagers, especially the regional ones, were hoppier and unpasteurised also in Belgium, maybe they are simply trying to prove that one can come up with multiple variations on pale lager without it having to become boring, but in any case I hope this one is going to stay and will eventually become a staple of Ghent pub life. Among the best Belgian lagers I ever had - but I’m silently hoping that the fifth incarnation of this ’13’ Pilsener will be an IPL with New World hops...

3 * 250 ml. draft @ Beerlovers Bar. Thanks to the brewer for the last glass! Completely clear, looks great, small but firm white head, great lacing. Nose is mellow grain, interesting malt body, getting vague pale lager notes here but far much more malt than usual, faint soap, mellow low lovely cheesy hop, mildly sweet, this is very round & creamy, totally different from what I expected. Body is mellow, almost milky round grain, white bread, fluffy, corn bread, thick & creamy, faint pale lager, grainy, touch white sugar, creaminess carries faint butte which works to its advantage, what I really like here is the finish, mildly sweet cheesy hops with pleasant corn bread, almost vague vanilla, lovely hop finish. Very different from what I expected, finish really got to me. My favourite from the 4 beers so far from this brewery, too bad about this being a seasonal. "The Ministry Of Belgian Beer" is the brewery that we needed in Belgium even if we didn’t realize it.

Tap at Beerlovers bar. Pours very clear blonde. Even though unfiltered , the clearness Comes from the usage of non-dried hops ( as the first example of this in the style ?) . Scent is very mild, but others seemed to smell way more than i did. I got some malts, but not so much. Taste is full, bitter, bit aromatic, hoppy, Nice maltyness. Very Nice lagerbeer, but if you make my top favourite lager, this is a bit overshadowed.... Re-rate. Edition 2017 had been the best version they made so far. Def deserved a higher score than the Original 3.6 by now.

Bottle from Geers. Hazy golden colour, white foam. Bone dry and hoppy pilsner. Some notes of citrus peel. Nice and drinkable pilsner.

Imported from my RateBeer account as 13 Fresh Hop (by The Ministry Of Belgian Beer):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.7/5

21/XI/16 - on draft and 25cl bottle @ 13 Fresh Hop Official Launch Party (Kantien, Gent) - BB: n/a (2016-1339) Thanks to Dimi for the invitation!

Note: could've been first, damn backlog. :p
Clear blond beer, aery irregular off-white head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: fruity notes, some pineapple, malty, some caramel. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: very bitter start, bit metallic, quite some grapefruit, tropical fruity touch. Aftertaste: citrus, bit grassy, very hoppy, nice clear bitterness, bit crisp, touch of grapefruit.