Donkergeel troebel bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is bitter en licht frutig met veel hars/hop, wat sinaasappel en wat gras achtige smaken. OK, maar voor mij niet echt bijzonder.

Brasserie Surréaliste, with its bar in Brussels, has become somewhat of a household name in Belgian beer circles since its beginnings five years ago, having become more widely distributed initially mostly in the catering business but now even in supermarkets as well (Delhaize at least, the one in Lokeren in the case of my sample) - I can still wonder how drastically some things have changed since U.S. style craft beer influences first arrived in this part of the world... And back again, because when they did, West Coast was the norm, then became completely overtaken by the hazy New England style - to the extent that the concept of 'West Coast IPA' in recent years became a thing again, as a nostalgic return to the originals. I have only very rarely seen such a return being successful: usually the so-called West Coast IPA still remains stuck halfway in the hazy NEIPA idiom. Let us find out how Surréaliste handles this challenge... Medium sized, off-white, irregular yet stable, slowly breaking, sparsely shred-lacing head on a misty golden robe with vague ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of unripe mandarin, soggy biscuit, unripe melon, white grape somewhere, starfruit, green kiwi, toasted garlic, fried onion, unripe pear, wet white paper or even very faint wallpaper paste - but in all, not very West Coast if you ask me. Fruity onset, crisp but fine-bubbled effervescence swirling through impressions of green pear, kiwi and unripe Galia melon, sweetish but not too much so - yet certainly a lot sweeter than any 'original' West Coast IPA was. Slick, full body, rounded pale malt sweetness with a very light biscuity edge, soaked in a hoppiness feeling a lot more 'tropical-sweet-fruity' than oniony, grapefruity or wormwoody like it should have been... Even retronasally, real West Coast aromas are hard to find: the only thing I can find here which may explain the West Coast moniker at least as perceived by the brewery, is the fact that more bitterness lingers at the back, spreading out over the throat for quite a while at least in comparison with this brewery's other IPA offerings. I get the same feeling here as when I get a salted but non-sour wheat ale pretending to be a Gose - or an extra hopped tripel posing as an IPA: the differences between historically evolved beer styles hardly ever lie in just one distinghuishing 'technical' feature, they are a complex of artistic interpretations, idiomatic and regional features and a 'soul' which remains difficult to explain. Perhaps the Surréaliste brewers are simply too young, or arrived too late at the scene, to be familiar with what any IPA coming from the U.S. tasted like two decades ago - but I remember those beers very vividly, including the effort I had to put in simply mastering their (to the standards of the day) enormous hop bitterness, and I can very safely say that this is not a West Coast IPA at all: this is a New England IPA with extended bitterness and nothing more. I feel bad for having to deduct points for that, because if you simply ignore that West Coast link, this is a pretty well-executed and tasty IPA especially to Belgian standards - we have come a long way indeed. But I have to be strict I guess, so sorry, point off for promising a trip down memory lane and completely failing at that...

Perfectly fine IPA. Approaches the WC style but doesn’t quite nail it. Some pleasant candied citrus, sun-kissed malts, mellow bitterness, piney accents, pale bread. Highly drinkable gear on the whole. Belgian-brewed IPAs have come a long way over the years.

(Draught at Moeder Lambic Original, Brussels, 20 Oct 2023) Pale amber colour with frothy, off-white head. Fruity, hoppy nose with notes of grapefruit, orange peel, pine needles, crisp-bread and a touch of resin. Fruity, hoppy taste with orange peel, grapefruit, resin, pine needles, crisp-bread and a generous citric/piney bitterness. Medium body, quite dry. Generous hop presence, with a solid, dry bitterness. Very nice.

Can at home from Malt Attacks, Brussels, 1st January 24. Pours a clear golden ale. Aroma is citrus, pine. Taste is bitter, caramel and pine, roasted malts, burnt sugar, some candied orange peel. Decent and different

8 April 2023. At Brasserie Surréaliste. Shared with the lovely Anke!

A: clear golden, small, white head.
A: cheese, sweaty feet, onion, dank pineapple, mango.
T: sweet pineapple, melon, dank onion & cheese.
F: piney hops, dank fruit, spices, bitter grapefruit.
P: medium body, oily texture, average carbonation.
Decent but lacks some structure for all that dankness.

Draft @ Surréaliste partagée avec Tim, Klaas, Simon & Erwin, merci!
Pâle dorée, col blanc crémeux.
Arôme sur un nez plutôt classique - west coeat de bonne facture qui rappelle les prémices de ce style - ici, un bouquet généreux en malts avec un rétro-nasal houblonné dont pas mal de résineux avec une petite note de douceur tropical/coco en retrait. Cependant, la base maltée reste plus présente.
Palais est sur un malté plaisant avec des pointes de carael le tout ponctué par un houblonné classique US côté ouest californien d'antan. Léger sur le résineux, sève de sapin.

Quite huge, dense, bit yellowish head over still, darker-golden clear beer. Fresh hops with fruity and blossomy fragrance; passion fruit, rosepetals, citrus, starfruit, lunaria. Mild bitterness, rather sweet-fruity, but also other grains, malty. Nowhere bitter enough for being called West Coast IPA - which it does on the label. Medium bodied, feels better carbonated than it looks; quite (oily)slick. Nicd nose, but the main flavour comes over as 'been there, done that' - let alone WCIPA.