8/XI/20 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent), shared @ home, BB: 30/XI/21 (2020-1035)

Clear bright gold blond beer, big creamy solid white head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: malty, floral touch, bit of a soapy impression, raw grains, bit yeasty. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice bitterness up front, bit grassy, hoppy, hint of banana. Aftertaste: malty, grains, hint of ripe banana, yeasty, very bitter, banana peel.

After a debacle with Eutropius, the rather star-crossed Humboldt & Gauss project from Ghent moved to De Feniks for production of their beers, which will hopefully give them some breathing space to continue their great work and, who knows, start their own brewery in Ghent one day. This is the latest addition to their range to date, a hoppy lager containing four different hop varieties, and another sign of Humboldt & Gauss being closely in touch with international craft beer trends. Eggshell-white, very mousy, regularly shaped, even-bubbled, lightly lacing, stable head on a misty yellow-golden blonde beer with vague olive greenish tinge and some visible sparkling. Aroma of freshly cut green apples, unripe melon, green banana, white bread crumbs, something soapy, whiff of lemon zest, dry cookies but unsugared, hints of flour, field flowers (the Hallertau, I suspect) and 'pistolets'. Crisp, lightly sweetish onset, some light 'green' fruity notes of unripe banana and Granny Smith apple but generally quite neutral as can be expected from a lager, lively carbonation with pleasant minerally effects that do not overrule the flavour, supple and slick body, slightly soapy. White-bready, cereally middle with that soapy aspect continuing, elegantly hoppy finish, quite delicate with notes of wild roses, green melon, deadnettle and lemon zest, but nothing overpowering; the hops further provide a relatively gentle, grassy bitterness lingering about in the end, accompanied by bread crumb-like yeasty accents. It is probably not fair to compare and I kind of knew this beforehand, but this is way better than the other novelty lager recently released in Ghent, called Coucou (see my previous rating here)... Not sure if this one will ever become my Best Friend if I take the rest of Humboldt & Gauss' range in consideration, but this is undoubtedly a modern, subtle, elegant, graceful and still very easily drinkable creation again, completely in line with their 'house style' even if all their previous beers were technically ales.