lekkere donkere IPA. Zeer gangbaar: niet te bitter, niet te harde chocolade/koffie

The other beer to win this year’s Brouwland Biercompetitie, so for sale at Delhaize supermarkets for the time being. Intended as a black IPA according to the label, because the one brewer likes hoppy beers and the other one likes dark malty beers... Very thick and frothy, thickly lacing, beaten egg kind of head, cream white and retaining very well; colour is a transparent dark reddish burgundy brown rather than black, clear at first but hazy with deposit. Interesting hoppy and fruity aroma of freshly cut nettles, unripe gooseberries, kiwi, pine needles, dried banana, earth, sorrel, honey, raw rhubarb, orange flesh, blackcurrant, dried tea leaves, toasted brown bread. Fruity onset (Belgian yeastiness): sweetish gooseberries and blackberries with deep sourish edge, a bit peachy as well, very faint echo of banana, light umami presence, softish carbonation, supple and ’fluffy’ mouthfeel with a certain degree of ’oiliness’, bit sticky, caramelly towards lightly toasted but not enough bitter malt presence which one would expect from the style; drying hoppy finish, herbal, spicy, earthy with retronasal flower and pepper effects, in all quite mild, with some of the sticky caramel sweetishness lingering afterwards, as well as the ’basic’, deep sourishness. I love black IPAs and I will welcome any attempt at this style made in Belgium, but it is a new style after all, which no Belgian brewer understands yet. This attempt is in need of darker (roasted) grains, as far as I am concerned, but the hops are quite right here at least from a European perspective; apart from that, this is definitely a rich and ’bold’ beer with a very interesting, but still very recognizably Belgian profile. Enjoyed it, but it doesn’t beat the black eXcalibur. The name refers to the recent controversy surrounding the black assistants of ’Sinterklaas’, a traditional European forerunner of Santa Claus, one could argue; if this is what it takes to draw the consumer’s attention to a black IPA, then by all means.

Bottle at gollem. Pours dark unclear amber to brown. Ok white head. Smell is bit hoppy, i am guessing amarillo. Taste is bit bitter , creamy, bit sweet. No real dark malts , yet the nice mouthfezl of a dark beer. Not really intense or unique though. A nice session beer , not much lasting bitterness.