Nostalgia Collection #3 - Kolenwasserij

Roodbruin bier met schuim. Smaak is bitterzoet en licht bitter met iets van tropisch fruit, heel vaag iets van anijs en wat peer.

330ml bottle. Slightly cloudy, orange golden colour with average to huge, frothy moderately lasting, minimally lacing, off-white head. Citrusy and slightly tropical fruity, hoppy aroma, sweet-ish, minimally sugary, pale malty background, notes of mandarine, mango, some orange, peach, a touch of pineapple. Taste is mildly bitter, tropical fruity and zesty, citrusy fruity hoppy, minimally mineral and herbal-leafy, yeasty spicy, notes of tangerine, some mango, peach, mandarine, bitter orange, sweet-ish, minimally sugary, pale malty basis. Watery texture, dry palate, medium, prickly carbonation. Balanced, not overly intense, almost a bit light for 8% abv - nice.

One of the newest Kompel beers, a Limburg brand dedicated to the local history of coal mining there; a strong IPA hopped with American hop varieties and apparently constituting the third edition of a Nostalgia series, after Schachtknoop and Reddingsploeg, both of which sadly escaped me. Very thick and frothy, intricately cobweb-lacing, uneven, snow white, very irregular but largely stable head on an initially lightly hazed, pale orange-glowing 'old golden' beer, turning more deeply misty later on but retaining its pale orange colour. Aroma of orange zest, ripe melon, bread crust, dried grapefruit peel, fried 'croutons', rusk, dandelion, wet toast, wormwood leaf, horseradish, fried carrots, clove, damp straw, dried chamomile, vague hints of nutmeg, freshly cut grass, vermouth, lightly toasted pumpkin seeds, old dusty paprika powder. Crisp onset, quite fruity with notes of halfripe peach, some green banana and a hint of unripe apricot, sharpish carbonation with minerally (and initially even slightly numbing) effects, rounded and full; classic Belgian breadiness in the middle, beech-nutty, bread-crusty, vaguely caramelly and very lightly toasted maltiness, under a growing hop bitterness eventually taking on an earthy and spicy form, a tad rooty in the end, but not forgetting to retronasally add citrus peel aromas, albeit in a very 'old' and dried kind of way, like a desiccated and withered piece of orange peel you found in your grandmother's spice drawer. Ends dry and earthy, with considerable residual yeasty breadiness and yeasty phenolics (clove, nutmeg) and malty breadiness, bittered in that same earthy way that was present from the start; the alcohol is noticeable and 'jenever'-like, in a half-hidden way. Clearly another 'Belgian IPA' in the sense of 'hop-forwarded Belgian tripel trying to be fancy with American hops' - a tradition of its own these days, for better or worse and largely unintentional, but if this segment is to be recognised as a beer style category, this is certainly not the worst in that segment. Typical Belgian-rooted, but decent Kompel style, I reckon.

33 cl. bottle @ home, bought @ van Rooij, Culemborg.
Dark golden with a white head. Sweet malty aroma with some citrus. Sweet taste with a dry-ish bittter finish.

Bottle, amber orange beer, small head. Aroma is citrus, hops, malt, fruit. Taste is the same, sweet, bitter, grapefruit, citrus. Longer bitter dry aftertaste. Nice