7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Yes, I now have a 33 cl bottle of Lot 01/2021 Ankles Breaker in hand for a sampling. Purchased from a continental seller, I put my New Belgium snifter in place for the pour. I see a semi-transparent, cedar colored body finished by a ring of silver, finely bubbled foam. I dig the smell, dried fruit, candy and bread. The drink is really pretty good, grain, malt, figs, prunes, toffee, syrup and toasted wheat bread. A superb presence, very full, lots of carbonation. White Pony still impresses.

7.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle. Amber pour. Aroma of sweet raisin, caramelised malt, rye, figs, dates, vanilla and orange candy. Taste has bitter raisin, caramelised malt, orange candy, a little yeast, vanilla, rye and booze. Body is a bit thin. Solid stuff, but does not stand out in any way.

6.8

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

Bottle. Reddish amber color. Rye and toffee in the aroma and flavor. Raisin. Floral, earthy notes. Alcohol. Decent.

7

Backlog

6.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Hazy, amber colored, medium beige head. Aroma is of malt, caramel, bit toasty, rye, some dried fruits, citrus and floral hops, bit yeast. Taste is medium to very sweet malt and caramel, some toasted notes, rye, toffee, some citrus and floral hops, candied fruit, moderate bitterness, some boozy alcohol with warmth. Medium+ bodied, soft carbonation, chewy. (bottle, Bierhalle Deconinck, Vichte)

7.3

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Tap at Erzbierschof Zurich. Pours clear brown. Aroma is candy sweet, light boozeBody is heavy, sweet, a bit stingy, low carbonation, some nuts. A bit disharmonic. Quite bitter. Okay.

6.9

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

One of last year’s White Pony beers (lot n° 01/2015), bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck. I do not expect gushing from these beers anymore now that Roberto ceased brewing at Gaverhopke and indeed this one behaves perfectly normal during opening, though some foam did creep out of the bottle minutes after opening. Thick and frothy, beige-ish egg-white head, moussy and creamy, leaving a consisting, thick, dense, continuous membrane of lacing around the glass; deep and warm amber robe with somewhat bronze-ish hue, teeming with dead yeast and quite large - and unattractive - protein flakes. Aroma of ripe peach, red apple, dried banana, canned apricot, iron, soggy barbecue spices, paprika, chicken soup (clearly linked to the visible protein flakes), caramel, cooked carrot, toast, figs drenched in brandy, fried egg, old apple cake, marmelade, gingerbread, vague hints of mint, glue-like solvents but luckily quite subtle, damp earth and sweet tomatoes. Rounded, fruity onset, apricot, red apple and banana sweetness with redcurrant- and unripe peach-like sourishness underneath, minerally accents, some lingering brown sugar sweetness but nothing cloying, medium carbonation with soft, ’fluffy’, full mouthfeel, albeit less vinous than expected from a beer labelled as a barley wine (or rye wine in this case). Full-fledged caramelly malt sweetness makes up the core of this beer, with a light toasted bitterish touch somewhere as well as the typical ’dim’ spiciness of soggy rye bread; the estery fruitiness unabatedly continues over this caramel background, while a growing amount of spicy phenols shows up towards the end (cloves, ginger, nutmeg), descending into solvent-like back flavors after a while. Finish maintains the caramelly malt sweetness, the esters and the phenols, adding a very earthy, rooty yeastiness, a spicy, briefly tonic water-like hop bitter accent and the expected glow of warming, wodka-like alcohol warming up the throat as the beers goes down. I have argued before that a case can be made for ’Belgian barley wine’, with the likes of Bush Ambrée and Stille Nacht as typical examples; this one, with its completely Belgian yeast profile, fits right in there. It does not, however, achieve the same quality standard for me: the mouthfeel is more tripel-like than barley wine-like and the palate is a tad too ’dirty’ and insufficiently clean for the style. Apart from ’truth to style’, though, this is a pleasant sipper for sure, with a good balance of sweet, sour and bitter, one to enjoy with care. One of the better White Ponies I had so far - apart from the label, which I do not like at all...

6.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle. Pours a hazy amber color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty spicy yeasty aroma. Fruity malty spicy yeasty caramel and dark fruit flavor. Has a fruit malty spicy caramel hoppy finish with hints of dark fruit.

7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle @ home. Lightly unclear medium to dark orange color, medium to full sized creamy off-white head that lasts for quite a while. Smell and taste malts, rye, lighyttly alcohol, initially sweet but a firm bitter finish. Thick texture, medium to full body, medium carbonation.

7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

33 cl bottle. Pours cloudy orange with a small white head. Aroma is phenolic, light fruity and toasted malt. Bitter, light peach fruity. Light herbal, dry and solid bitter. Toasted and fruity finish.