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Alengrin (11561) reviewed Hip Hop Hooray from Gistgeest 3 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Hazy white IPA fermented with kveik, a collaboration of Gistgeest with another, brand new microbrewery in Edegem (south of Antwerp) called Magnus; I had a chat with the brewer of the latter at Ghent Beer Fest, where he claimed that this beer was not actually brewed in Gistgeest’s kettles nor his own, but in the kettles of a test facility in the buildings of Boortmalt, one of the world’s largest malt producers. Gistgeest and other small Antwerp brewers apparently make use of this non-commercial facility as well for their own beers – an interesting opportunity for ambitious new craft brewers, clearly… This Hip Hop Hooray shows a large-bubbled, snow white, irregularly shaped and slowly breaking head and hazy yellow blonde robe with somewhat olive-greenish tinge. Refreshingly citrusy aroma of lime zest, pomelo, fresh lemon thyme, cake dough, unripe mango in the background, lemongrass, vague spruce tip and a ‘diesel’-like dank aspect kept well in check. Sweetish fruity onset but clean and sleek (in spite of the kveik), with impressions of green pear, lychee and unripe banana or hard nectarine, softishly carbonated with smooth body; some light wheat slickness indeed, next to a more bready-doughy cerealliness, deeply steeped in zesty, citrusy and very lightly tropical hoppiness with a very brief piney note trailing behind. Hints of mango, lime and pink pepper linger retronasally, while a somewhat powdery, spicy but altogether friendly bitterness is established. Many craft brewers today seem to aim at a kind of ‘generic’ IPA combining elements of different established IPA styles, and this often results in largely interchangeable ‘compromise’ IPAs which are accessible and easygoing; there are legions of so-called ‘mountain IPAs’ in North America, holding the middle between West Coast an New England, and more legions of such ‘generic’ IPAs in Europe. This one clearly belongs to that broad, postmodern category of accessible generic IPAs, with a dash of West Coast bitterness, a dash of wheat for white IPA associations, a hazy look to resemble NEIPA etc. – while ending up quite restrained in all those features, as if unable to choose sides. That said, with IPA having conquered first North America and then the world, there is no doubt that demand for this kind of introductory, non-outspoken IPAs will only rise in coming years, so commercially speaking, this is certainly not a bad decision; it also helps that this Hip Hop Hooray is technically well executed, manages to balance out all these different elements from citrusy over piney to dank by not exaggerating any of them, and generally comes across as the kind of go-to IPA (sic) I could sip all day on a summery afternoon. I am, however, perhaps more curious about what this Magnus guy made of black IPA and saison, his ‘own’ creations which I still have to sample.
mike_77 (15884) reviewed Hip Hop Hooray from Gistgeest 3 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Cloudy yellow colour with lasting soapy head. Nice IPA, slightly tangy like pineapple juice. Pithy bitterness in the finish.
Kraddel (15810) reviewed Hip Hop Hooray from Gistgeest 3 years ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Pours very hazed yellow. Small to medium white head. Scent is raw, green hops. Taste is full, sharp, bitter, tad green. Bit 1-dimentional. Has the base ( malt & MF ) of a eastcoast (not a westcoast as written in the description ! ) , but not the fruityness (again.. Did he mix up east and west ? ) Pretty sharp, fairly bitter. Not WC style completely, but definately not EC. Anyway, enough about styletechnical crap. The beer is good, the mouthfeel is great, and at least it tastes different to all these current IPA's, which I can respect. Might not be my personal favorite, but hey, thats a personal opinion only.