7.6

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

Aroma of grassy hops, spicy notes, yeast, grain, floral notes. Flavour is a nicely potent medium bitterness. Excellent hoppy Belgian Ale, lovely refreshing grassy floral aroma.

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Aroma: Malt and dried fruits with notes of plumbs. Flavour: Fruity and malty sweet with ripe fruits and plumbs. Aftertaste is fruity sweet with light bitter notes. Colour: Orange with a fading head. From: Bottle in 2022.

7.8

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

(Bottle) Golden amber colour with lasting, white head. Hoppy, malty nose with bread, apricots, orange peel, flowers and herbal hops. Malty, hoppy taste with notes of bread, apricots, grass, citrus, flowers and a generous herbal bitterness in the finish. Medium body, quite dry. Harmonious and elegant with lots of fresh hops. Very nice.

6

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

Bottle Pigs ear 2019. Hazy gold colour. Light puke. Aged hops. Bitterness. Not great.

7

Backlog

6.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

The 2014 edition in this series, basically a hopped up farmhouse ale, from a 75 cl bottle of three years old. Thick, moussy, egg-white, somewhat irregular head leaving behind a pattern of thick, papery lacing and showing excellent retention, atop an initially clear, pure ’old gold’ coloured beer with vague peachy tinge and minute dots of yeast spread throughout. Aroma of damp straw in a barn, pear peel, camomile tea, bread crust, raw string beans, parsnip, dry cloth, quite a lot of wet paper due to ageing, unripe peach, hints of rainwater, soap, green garden herbs, minerals, ’rusty’ oxidation and even a vague impression of propane gas (lightstruck - green bottle, must have seen daylight for a bit too long) which fortunately fades away after a while. Crisp, rather clean onset, restrained fruity notes of hard pear, unripe stonefruit and green apple, only very vaguely sweetish, bit sourish too, in an initially rather fizzy environment adding minerally notes but calming down after a while; smooth, lean, bit soapy mouthfeel. Sharpish cereally graininess underlies everything, with a subtly bready edge to it; something rainwater-like sits alongside while the hoppiness grows and becomes the biggest player in the game from the middle onwards. It develops a grassy, floral character retronasally, with an earthy, tonic water-ish bitterness colouring the finish, while the graininess, a dash of spicy phenols and some dried fruit notes continue as well as this recurring rusty oxidation note. Spicy and grassy bitterness lingers and forms the core of this beer, as is the case with the other editions (as well as several other of De Ranke’s beers) in this interesting series, which basically juggles with the recipes of the standard beers before hopping them up. Purely out of memory, I’d say this one comes very close to the 2013 edition, which I had at two years of age (also in a condition which was not very ideal for this type of beer - being much more lightstruck than this, but less oxidized at the same time); for me, both 2013 and 2014 editions are now the lesser in this series but only because I had them too old and aged in not the best of circumstances. I still have the 2016 edition in my cellar now and I plan to consume it soon, as apparently these beers do not keep very well, unsurprising of course for beers which emphasise hoppiness; the bitterness of the hops has remained, but I have no doubt that the aromas would have been more expressive and elegant when young. In all, this edition has still remained an enjoyable saison, with sufficient ’rural’ character to be credible as such. I am now on a mission to get my hands on the 2017 edition - assuming there will be one - as young as possible, because I had too many of these beers too old...

8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Közepes, nagyon tartós hab, borostyán szín. Illata nagyon élénk, friss almás, szőlős, fehérboros, virágos jegyekkel. Élénk virágos, fűszeres, szőlős ízvilág, fehérboros beütéssel. Közepesen testes, közepesen keserű és közepesen szénsavas. Élénk, friss, üdítő sör, jó egyensúllyal és arányokkal.

7

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle 750ml. [ As De Ranke Hop Harvest 2014 ].[ Courtesy of tdtm82 ]. Unclear matt light to medium yellow - amber orange color with a small to average, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, pale malt, moderate to heavy hoppy, grass, citrus, dry hops, moderate yeasty, belgium yeast. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, pale malt, dusty hops, dry, citrus, grass. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20150812]

7.1

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

750ml bottle. Clear golden colour with huge, frothy, fairly lasting, moderately lacing, white head. Fruity and yeasty aroma, minimally dusty, hints of pollen, yellow stone fruit basis with citrusy zesty interludes. Taste is minimally sweet malty, slightly grassy hop bitterness, fruity background with hints of yellow stone fruit, tangerine; soft palate, gentle carbonation.

7

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

Pours clear amber / blonde. Good white head. Smell is surprisingly yeasty. Hoppy in the back ( it IS a year old, so... ) Taste is intensely bitter, very bitter ! Dry bitterness ( Style XX) but in contradiction to the 2015 version, this has a bigger amount of both malts and esp. yeast ( perhaps due to age ? ) so I feel like this has a better balance. therefor, I slightly prefer this one.