Delhaize Ben's IPA

Ben's IPA

 

Delhaize in Brussel / Bruxelles / Brussels, Brussels Capital Region, Belgium 🇧🇪

Brewed at/by: Brouwerij Anders!
  IPA Series
Score
7.00
ABV: 7.5% IBU: - Ticks: 8
Sign up to add a tick or review

Join Us


     Show


7.1
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

My third beer in this commissioned series, bottle from Delhaize. At half a year of age, I reckon the hoppiness of it - if this is sincerely an IPA - has faded a bit by now, but let’s give this a go anyway. Pours a misty, deep golden blonde under a thick and frothy, retaining and thickly lacing, egg-white head. Aroma indeed forwards a lot of citrussy hoppiness as well as estery fruitiness; impressions include fresh mandarin, orange peel, fresh pineapple, honey, sweet white wine, white bread, freshly cut celery, powder sugar, soap, red apple peel, hint of lemon zest, caramel, raw steak, grass, earth. Vividly fruity onset, lots of ’Belgian’ esters but in a quite refined kind of way, pineapple, peach, starfruit and gooseberry, strong and minerally carbonation, sourish hint, leading to a bready, caramelly, bit honeyish and slightly nutty malt phase with lots of spicy yeastiness and a hint of remaining peachy sweetness, after which the hops set in, leafy, earthy, peppery and a tad citrussy, long and bittering, establishing a finish long and dry enough to indeed evoke ’true IPA’, albeit it in a still rather restrained kind of way (I guess the aim is not to shock the masses with a ’biting’ hoppiness we all know and love from the Americans); minerals, something ’juicy’ (probably from the dying yeast), a hint of ’jonge jenever’-like alcohol but fortunately subtle (in contrast to Ben’s Strong Blond), and a slick, light maltiness accompany this hop bitter ending. I hate to admit it as I’m not a big fan of Ben Vinken’s overly commercial approach to beer culture, but this is so far the best of these "Ben’s" beers from Delhaize - I have yet to taste the tripel, though. In all: a ’real’ but very Belgian IPA indeed, a bit tripel-like with an unmistakable ’Belgian’ yeastiness, but credible and well crafted. I still don’t buy the fancy ice bucket crap written on the label, however.

Tried from Bottle on 13 Feb 2015 at 17:28


7.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Bottle from Delhaize Brugge, Sint Kruis, consumed at Lynn & Barrys, Merton, Oxon, Wednesday 31st December 2014 Soft in mouth, a little yeasty sediment in suspension, hazy gold. Typical fruity more Belgian type IPA, a bit dry after initial sweetness, a real furry dryness. A good solid Belgian IPA. A7 A4 T7 P4 Ov14 3.6

Tried from Bottle on 31 Dec 2014 at 13:10


6.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

75CL bottle at home, yelloworange beer with a medium head, aroma is hoppy, taste is hoppy, bitter, dry. Ok beer.

Tried from Bottle on 23 Oct 2014 at 14:18


7.3
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Huge, fine & dense yellowish head, slowly receding over orange beer with a pinkish hue. Fruity, citrussy C-hops; aromatic and not too overpowering. Fine, but slightly unidimensional. Bitter & fruity flaovur, faintly flowery. Lots of citrus, bit of resin to booth. Long bitter aftertaste, never getting harsh nor unpleasant. Warming up, bit of human sweat. Quite slick, but rather light MF. Refreshing qualities; Undeniably a hit; OK, with all the IPA’s sampled in the US, he’d be hard pressed to miss - and on the Westcoast, this wouldn’t make the headlines. In Belgium, it’s a bit of a relief - a real IPA...

Tried on 08 Aug 2014 at 11:10


7
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

75 cl. bottle sampled @ Barley Legal Tasting Room. Thaks to Kraddel! Hazy orange, huge white head. Nose is sweet white bread, banana, white sugar, light fruity hops mixed in the sweetness. Taste is sweet banana, buttermilk, sweet white bread, flowers, white sugar, light flowery hops. Yeasty white sugar body. Too much banana, bread etc. sweetness with not enough hops, bit bland & vague, not awful but looses too much being dull and vague trying to appeal to the masses. It is not awful like the Strong Blond was in the same series.

Tried from Bottle on 22 Jul 2014 at 23:04


7.3
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9

Bottle Pours blonde , good white head . Smell is faded hops , simcoe style . Taste is sweet , bit hoppy ( not enough to be called ipa ) . More like a light blonde , with a hoppy character . Its doable ,

Tried from Bottle on 22 Jul 2014 at 12:17


7.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle, 75cl, Delhaize. Cloudy blond beer, white foam. Medium carbonation. Aroma of tropical fruit (mango, passion fruit) with light malty notes. Hoppy and easy drinkable. Good Belgian IPA!

Tried from Bottle on 21 Jul 2014 at 23:50


7.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Imported from my RateBeer account as Delhaize Ben's IPA (Ben Vinken) (by Delhaize):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.6/5

11/VI/14 - 75cl bottle from Delhaize @ DICT BBQ - BB: n/a (2014-617) Thanks to Erwin for sharing the bottle!

Little cloudy deep blond beer, small creamy yellowish head, pretty stable. Aroma: very fruity, bit sourish, lemony, grapefruit, little chemical, alcohol, fruity. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: soft sourness, bit floral, pretty bitter, yeasty, grassy, fruity notes. Aftertaste: bit sweet, floral, soft bitterness, bit yeasty, exotic fruits. Mix of a Belgian ale and an IPA, but a rather enjoyable and pleasant one. Anders is getting their shit together, it seems, thumbs up! Now try to avoid working and using one of your better recipes for the biggest schmuck in beer land. :p

Tried from Bottle on 11 Jun 2014 at 12:10