6.4

Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5

Belgian 'kruidenbier' with black pepper as the defining ingredient, also containing wheat malt; commissioned by a transport company called Trafuco. 'True' gusher, floating out of the bottle neck immediately upon opening, so be warned. Medium thick, egg-white, fizzing, moussey, sparsely lacing but pillowy and quite stable head, hazy peach blonde with 'old golden' hue and a suspension of dead yeast dots throughout - doubtlessly related to the gushing. Notably sweet aroma of cold apple sauce, canned pineapple, banana squash, brioche, honey or even mead, peach jam, very little to no real pepper (alas), sweetclover, ripe pear, sweet potato, white bread dough, clove, vague cinnamon, touch vanilla even, wet kitchen towel, hint of rusty iron (oxidation) at the end. Very fruity, sweet onset, peach jam, pineapple, banana, ripe pear and apple sauce, soft in carbonation (the carbon dioxide hardly 'bound' into the beer and all but gone during the gushing), soft and fluffy mouthfeel; soft wheaty-breadiness with a slightly nutty barley layer underneath, lots of residual, honeyish sugars keeping everything firmly on the sweet side, with a slight metallic 'zing' at the edges. Some of that 'rusty' oxidation returns retronasally alongside floral hops and some clove-like phenols, but the star of the show has apparently cancelled tonight because pepper in any way or form is nowhere to be seen... Floral hoppiness continues in the tail, with a soft bitterness lingering amidst all that ongoing malty, sugary and estery sweetness. Oxidation remains detectable, though not overpowering. Very sweet blonde with a heap of residual sugars, gushing and oxidized with a slight metallic side to it: this is well below what Circus usually delivers, and on top of that, the ingredient I was most looking forward to (the pepper) is as good as absent. More or less drinkable, even mildly enjoyable perhaps, but in many ways the opposite of what I was hoping for: this should have been a dry, hoppy, sleek blonde packed with a daring punch of actual black pepper. Very disappointing if viewed that way - so point off for not (at all) living up to my expectations, but I admit this is a personal thing.