Zeven Zonden IRA

Spritziger Beginn, Weizen, Zitrus, eher dumpfer Hintergrund. Frisch, hefig-kräutrig, milde Süße, gut trinkbar, ok. 8/7/7/7/7/7

A clear golden yellow beer with a white head. Aroma of lemongrass, citrus, wheat malt, floral hops. Taste of herbal and spicy wheat malt, lemongrass, citrons, zest.

Cette IRA fait partie d'une série de bières brassée par la brasserie représentant les 7 péchés capitaux. Et nous sommes ici sur la colère avec une blanche bien épicée. Personnellement je ne vois pas spécialement le lien avec la colère mais j'ai apprécié le tempérament de cette IRA avec des épices bien poussées mais pas écœurantes. En verre, nous sommes sur un blond pâle limpide avec une fine effervescence moyennement soutenue et une mousse blanche ne nappant pas toute la surface. Le nez est sur les épices (gingembre, coriandre, cardamome et thym) avec du blé, de la pomme, du miel et du zest de citron. En bouche, l'équilibre est intéressant. La bière est très légèrement acidulée ce qui vient réveiller les papilles mais également contrebalancer les épices. L'ensemble fonctionne donc bien avec une corpulence et longueur honnêtes. L'alcool, à 7 % se ressent davantage en arrière-bouche. Un vrai parti pris sur les épices, mais c'est plutôt bien fait.

Bottle 33cl. @home poured into a tumbler. Soapy medicinal nose. Hazy medium golden colour, tall loose frothy white head, slowly dissipating irregularly, patchy lacing. Medicianl aroma, herbs, ginger, anise seed, lemon peel, apricot, yeast. Taste restrained medicinal notes, apricot, light banana, herbs, spices, yeast/dough, Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation, aromatic sweetbitter aftertaste, herbal and spicy notes till the end, outspoken but quite nice actually.

Witbier by Hugel in this "seven sins" series - and frankly, when this series started and vowed to create one new beer every year dedicated to the seven deadly sins so many years ago, I did not expect the Hugel guy to complete it... But here we are today, with a 'blanche' referring to the sin of wrath - so I guess the name "IRA" is anything but coincidental. Steinie bottle from the Delhaize of (or rather, near) Zwijnaarde. Big and foamy, frothy, plastery lacing, egg-white, uneven-bubbled but tightly knit and stable head, initially clear deep golden blonde robe with apricot tinge, misty with sediment. Indeed spicy and herbal aroma of ginger powder, ground coriander seed, white bread pulp, dried lemon zest, wet flour, white soap to even some bath foam, dry crackers, hard pear, unripe pineapple, banana peel, fresh lemon thyme, lavender, sweet cicely, carambola, perfume, chamomile. Spritzy onset, lively and minerally carbonation piercing through estery-sweet fruity notes of banana, pear and red apple with a touch of pineapple and a vague sourish touch underneath; moves to a bready and even somewhat doughy middle, with lingering honeyish sweetness on top and soapy wheat at the sides, quickly and persistently drenched in ethereal 'herbality' of ginger, orange zest, sweet cicely and even anise, lavender and liquorish to a certain extent, pushed forward by spicy phenolics (clove) and floral hops (chamomile). Ends softly bready, still steeped in this aromatic, eventually ridiculously perfumey herbalness and with little - but still some - hop bitterness, remaining quite fruity and even a tad juicy, though the spicy character does mitigate that sweetness and juiciness a bit. Witbier is traditionally low-hopped and overspiced, the wheat is very obvious here and even if this particular style will probably never conquer my heart, I cannot deny that this particular one is fairly decently made, with a 'different' - albeit seriously overstated - amount of spiciness. Too herbal and too soapy for me to fully enjoy, but admittedly well executed from a technical viewpoint and colourful enough to be interesting, if not overly sophisticated. Weird wit for sure, one is more than enough - if this beer was ever going to incite any form of wrath in me, it would be because of this unforgiving, soapy, perfumey spice overdose.

Lichtgeel bier met schuim. Smaak is licht fruitig zoet met iets van sinaasappel, mandarijn, limoen en snoepjes.

22/VII/21 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel, shared @ home, BB: 26/I/23 (2021-663)

Clear blond beer, huge creamy white head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: very floral, ripe banana, sweet impression. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: floral, somewhat soapy, sugary, floral, banana, gentle bitterness. Aftertaste: more soapy, coriander probably, sugary sweetness, more banana and yeast, too sweet, too yeasty, too soapy. Don’t like it.