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

IPA from a new microbrewery in Houffalize deep in the Ardennes (same region as Achouffe), bottle from Drinks4U in Deinze. Some slow gushing but nothing to worry about. Towering high, very foamy, egg-white, lacing, pillowy head initially filling the glass almost completely even with careful pouring; hazy yellow blonde robe with apricot tinge, more milky and orangey in the end. Aroma of green mango, lemongrass, soapy wheat, pomelo, brioche, lime peel, dust, lemon verbena, hints of field flowers, tulips and grass. Sweetish fruity onset, green mango and a touch of nectarine, with pomelo-like citrusiness early on; medium carbonated with slick mouthfeel. Clear wheat soapiness with grainy edges, evolving into a long hop bitter finish with citric notes of grapefruit and pomelo yet not as vibrantly so as they could have been, hints of lemon thyme, wormwood and grass, bringing a lovely bitterness. Confidently hopped, with enough New World hop aroma and bitterness – I have seen much worse in Belgium, with this one remaining quite clean and sleek; style-wise, like so many present-day IPAs, a compromise of hazy fruitiness and oldskool bitterness – a generic ‘international’ IPA of sorts, I guess. In any case tasty enough, though the true IPA afficionados will probably find it insufficiently aromatic and too one-sided.