Borealis
Norm Brewing in Liège, Liège, Belgium 🇧🇪
IPA - Imperial New England / Hazy Regular|
Score
7.20
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Brassée pour le printemps et le retour des beaux jours, les houblons apportent du pamplemousse rose, rose, citron vert, agrumes, bonbons et fruits sucrés soulignés par des notes boisées et florales.
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tricksta_p (13552) reviewed Borealis from Norm Brewing 5 months ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Can from Drankenhandel Leiden. 2025 version with Talos, Loral and Idaho7. Citrusy hop with orange, pale malt, zesty citrus, tropical notes. Moderate to medium bitter, lightly sweetish. Medium body. Bitter fruit peel, zesty, citrusy. Nice.
nathanvc (6881) reviewed Borealis from Norm Brewing 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Can from Stacks.
A: hazy ochre, small, frothy, white head.
A: grapefruit, mango, lime, grape, white tea, lychee, gin.
T: sweet mango, peach, lychee, sourish lime, bitter grapefruit, herbs.
F: herbal & floral hops, pine, perfumey grapefruit, warming gin-like alcohol.
P: medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation.
Not super clean but certainly not devoid of flavour.
tderoeck (22679) reviewed Borealis from Norm Brewing 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
3/VIII/24 - 44cl can from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: n/a (no dates on the label or the can) (2024-674)
Clear gold blond beer, small creamy irregular white head, a little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: very fruity, a bit dank, hoppy, juicy, oranges, zesty, nice stuff! MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, very fruity, juicy, good bitterness, citrus notes, a bit sourish. Aftertaste: a bit sweet, very fruity, citrus notes, some tropical fruits, mango, nice stuff, gentle bitterness, slightly sourish, very nice!
Benzai (24278) reviewed Borealis from Norm Brewing 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Can shared at tasting. Yellow color, white head. Smell and taste are moderately malty, very pleasantly hoppy, tropical fruit hoppy, softly bitter perhaps but that could be a little more imo. Nonetheless a pleasant one.
mike_77 (15884) reviewed Borealis from Norm Brewing 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Pale yellow and hazy with thin head. It's got tropical fruit notes. Spiky hop taste. Not bad. Seems quite alcoholic.
Alengrin (11561) reviewed Borealis from Norm Brewing 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
NEDIPA from this interesting young brewing project in the "Cité Ardente", from a 44 cl can - the sheer measure of capacity already indicating an Anglo-Saxon-inclined approach. Best before December 1st, according to the can, but I would rather have seen a bottling (or, in this case, canning) date. Medium sized, somewhat loose and open, 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, off-white, irregular and rather flimsy head on a misty yellow-golden robe with khaki tinge. Aroma of ripe mango, diesel, lychee, Screwdriver, pine resin, honey liqueur, gin, Thai basil, papaya, chantilly cake, honey pomelo, stewed fennel, soap, hawkweed, touch of dry old rubber. Sweet onset in a smooth, 'hoppy-fruity', cleanish way, honeydew, rambutan, yellow kiwi and lychee, moderately to softishly carbonated with very smooth, oily yet lean mouthfeel, very slick and velvety (oats indeed!), Betterfood-ish in a thinnis kind of way, with this soapy edge of wheat very present as well. The sweetness dries out a bit at that point, but something honeyish does thinly persist, reinforced by sweet retronasal New World hop aromas (mango, papaya) with a bit of pine resin piercing through (Talus, no doubt). The hops engulf all the flavours - as they are supposed to do in this kind of beer - but in spite of a 'greenish', peppery bitter element in the tail, they do little to balance the initial sweetness. The finish is dominated much more by alcohol than by hops, with a very gin-like profile, herbal, astringent, 'hot' and a bit minty, or, in any case, too outspoken to be passable - even if in the very end it is followed by lingering 'green' hop bitterness. This one element bothered me most as I am quite sensitive to it (especially in NEDIPAs), but I must admit that otherwise, this is a meritorious attempt at a technically challenging style. I am charmed by the fact that this Norm company skips the old Belgian clichés and moves straight to the New World craft styles without even referring to the Old World, but if you take that road, be aware that you will need to compete with the entire Western World nowadays - and on an international level, this Borealis is no match for the great NEDIPAs of this world. That said, I have seen examples of similar quality emerge from Poland, Spain, Britain and many other countries - even the United States. Not quite there yet, but have a point for boldness, righteousness and purity in pursuing an uncompromising 'craft beer' goal. Norm surely is one to keep an eye on.