6.8

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

One of several occasional beers made in small batches for CVOSG, an adult education project in Bruges. Like the two previous occasions, brewed at Bryggja; this latest version is apparently intended as an IPA and was only sold at CVOSG itself and only to its employees and students – but it was effectively sold no matter how limitedly, so I guess it deserves an entry on this website. Thanks to Jonathan – a CVOSG employee – for the bottle! Thick and foamy, egg-white, very frothy, lacing head head over lightly hazy, deep and warm amberish orange blonde beer with vague rosy tinge and strings of fierce sparkling. Aroma of dusty old herbes de Provençe, pumpkin pie spices, cardamom even, paprika, bread crust, old cheese rind, herb cheese, dried tomato peel, thyme, persimmon, vague but ‘naturally’ feeling iron. Dryish onset, restrained fruitiness of dried persimmon, apple peel and orange zest, light sourish accent, minerally side notes, well-carbonated. Smooth, bit resinous cracker- and bread crust-like maltiness with vague metallic edges, leading to a spicy finish – with a much more old grandmother’s spice rack effect than a ‘new’ citrusy IPA effect, old orange peel notes aside; I get the same cardamom seed and dried thyme impressions that were already prevalent in the nose. Still quite hoppy, though, with a long-stretched, dried wormwood-like bitterness to it; also cheesy aspects of hops having passed their prime. A bit too old already, but more importantly: weirdly spicy, like some Belgian spice ale more than an IPA, its relative ‘cleanness’ (non-yeastiness) aside. Nothing unpleasant, just not really an IPA, like so many other Belgian attempts at this commercially successful style (or group of styles) these days.