‘Blonde kveik IPA’ with four hop varieties by upcoming West-Flemish brewery Kanaal One; thanks Craftmember for sharing. Fluffy, egg-white, irregular but closed, frothy head, slowly opening over a pale orange-tinged golden blonde robe with translucent yeast suspension, hazy with sediment. Bizarre and ever-shifting aroma of farmland, even manure (but luckily volatile), pickled beetroot, orange, guava, jasmin flowers, cigarette ashes, elderblossom, jute bags, freshly cut grass, cheese rind, coriander powder, honeysuckle, cotton cloth, hay. Sweetish onset, ripe orange and apricot with hints of guava and pear, medium carbonated with sourish undertone (even very vaguely gooseberry-like); smooth body, bready malts under ongoing fruitiness where the kveik esters and the hop aromas become hard to distinguish, a complex of mango, vague orange, green pear and unripe pineapple with some of these aspects no doubt coming from the kveik and other from the hops, the latter also providing a long, bit wormwoody bitterness. Very odd beer, shifting colours all the time, likely due to the kveik being a very expressive one (not all kveik strands are like that) and hardly under control here, forming a tangle of sultry fruitiness with the hops but also producing far less inviting ‘earthy’ aspects. Unusual, more a hoppy Belgian blonde than true IPA but even in that sense very idiosyncratic. Took me a while to appreciate, but somehow interesting and original so one of those ‘benefit of the doubt’ cases for me.

Lci

Bottle at home, golden orange beer, small head. Aroma is peach, yeast, fruit, hops, citrus. Taste is the same, bitter, sweet, malt, hops, fruity, yeast, not too bad.

Pours a fairly unclear blonde. Medium large to large white head. Scent is hoppy, with some passion fruit and citrus taking the top spots. Kveik provides the spicyness underneath. Minor maltyness (white bread). Taste is sharp, intense bitterness (far more intense than expected) , sharp mouthfeel, malty base. Unexpectedly WC like, and still quite balanced. Medium carbo. Kveik doesn't overpower by it's spicyness. No real pine character, but all and all, way different than expected and reminding of a westcoast, if anything. Pleasant surprise !

330ml. bottle. @Grote Markt, Veurne (Belgium). 06/09/2022 [#5.380 Global - #216 Belgium - #1 Kanaal One (My Belgian brewery #90)] Pours golden to orange with a big and lasting white head. Aroma: belgian yeast, coriander and pale malts. Taste: very yeasty amd spiced. Lively carbonation. Long spicy mouthfeel. Next one please!

Hazy dark yellow colour. Very malt forward but with floral hop notes. Well balanced. Good body.

5/IV/22 - 33cl can from Bierhalle Deconinck (Vichte), shared @ home, BB: 17/IX/22 01 07:56:38 (2022-308)

Pretty clear blond yellow beer, creamy dense off-white head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: very malty, bit sourish impression, vinegar notes, dusty, grains. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, very malty, grains, pretty bitter, slightly fruity, some citrus. Aftertaste: dry and bitter finish, bit resinous, grassy, pretty unimpressive, a bit sourish, weird.