Appearance - 2 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Strong dark(ish) ale from this quiet but active microbrewery in inconspicuous Beveren-Waas, my home region. Very violent gusher: I lost about 1/3 of the bottle to the sink in instants, and even after that, it kept coming out of the bottle neck - a problem this brewery seems to have a hard time coping with. A mousy, pale greyish beige, large-bubbled, cobweb-lacing head remains, sitting stable on a clouded dark and 'dirty' amberish-brown bronze beer. Aroma of rye bread, orange peel, cloves, nutmeg, old red apple, medlar, banana, brown soap, soaking wet peanuts, baker's yeast, tea leaves. Sweet onset, residual sugars among hints of ripe banana and overripe medlar with side notes of peach and pear, sourish and 'dirty' undertone which, even if not too strongly so, hints at a certain degree of infection. Very fizzy carbonation, 'fluffy' brown-bready and caramelly maltiness with honeyish sweetness on top as well as metallic and soapy edges, 'dirty' and earthy finish with some warming (and frankly badly hidden), 'jenever'-like alcohol, herbal hops providing only mild bitterness and of course a whole zoo of yeast effects, varying from ongoing banana and pineapple esters to clove-like and even somewhat 'medicinal' phenols. Clearly more than one thing went wrong here - technically flawed, messy and dirty, with too much residual sweetness, even if the basic flavours are okay. Needs work!