Spritzig malziger Beginn. Angenehm bitter, sehr frisch, geringfügig röstig. Trocken hopfig-bitterer Mittelteil, langer Nachhall. Gut. 10/9/11/11//11

Bottle from De Hopduvel, Ghent. Hazy dark amber with a big and lasting off-white head. Aroma is sweet, malty, caramel and moderate hoppy - citrus. Flavor is quite sweet and rather bitter. Dry and moderate bitter finish. 020417

Bouteille 33cl, bottled 28/11/2016. Ambrée, col épais très dominant et une répétition des autres bouteilles toutes trop carbonnées. Le col est blanc-cassé. Arôme au nez fin tropical, rétro léger de jus de pin, malté cara pâle avec un petit résidu de levure poussé au dessus par cette activité trop important de l’effervescence. Plais est malté, finemetn grillé avec une touche de biscuité. Houblonné correct virant sur un léger tropical qui est plaisant et alterne sur les agrumes, en découle une certaine amertume. Malt pâle, cara et biscuité, levure reste encore une fois trop présente empêchant le caractère des houblons d’être plus marqué. Retrouve une petite note de pamplemousse et de pin.

One of several beers from a brand new, internationally oriented micro brewery in Damme, located in an old restaurant there. Bottle from Deconinck. Thick, frothy, off-white, very dense head leaving a large amount of ’membranous’ lacing on the edge of the glass and crowning a cloudy, deep orange blonde or even amberish beer with coppery hue. Aroma of grapefruit flesh or juice, toasted onion, stale orange juice, paprika, soap, warm toast, dried mango, dry earth, horseradish, sweet potato, withering flowers, wormwood, fried egg, fermenting pine needles, old brown bread, walnut, cloves, old dried thyme, roasted peanuts, unripe peach and even, in the very end, something vaguely manure-like (perhaps the ominous sign of an onsetting E. coli infection?). Fruity onset, crisp with a sweetish component of peach and fig but very subdued, as well as an equally restrained sourish dried berry-like aspect; lively carbonation, minerally and sharp, a tad overcarbonated for this style even, coarsening an otherwise supple, smooth but also rather soapy mouthfeel. Nutty malt core quickly becoming very toasted, softly bittering, matching well with an uncompromizing, resinous, grapefruity, very spicy and long-lasting, leafy, drying hop bitterness that makes up the largest part of the finish; Belgian esters and phenols, though unmistakably present (the latter in the usual spicy, clove-like form), remain fairly limited, not bothering the display of American hoppiness too much. Some bready, almost powdery yeastiness lingers too, especially after adding the sediment to the glass. The intention is apparently to support the ’international style’ IPA onto the Belgian market and I get their point: the international thirst for hops usually manifests itself as an extra layer of bitterness onto classic Belgian blondes and tripels in this country, leading to a hybrid ’Belgian IPA’ style; very few breweries have managed - or even attempted - to radically rule out the classical Belgian ale yeast features and create a completely clean, Anglo-Saxon IPA. I can think of a few examples but those are relatively unknown so these guys make sense in trying to achieve this, but this beer still has too much off-side yeastiness (phenols especially) going on to fully satisfy their own goal. Still, this is less Belgian than most other of these Belgian IPAs, its general profile makes clear that these guys know what they want. I am confident that they will reach their goal soon enough, as this is, all things considered, very promising; it has a hop bitterness which is both uncompromizing and aromatic, a bit on the harsh side even. I would suggest Siphon to clean this up and then direct it more towards the New England IPA style where the aromatic qualities of these new hops are more prevalent than their purely bittering properties. In any case: very enjoyable beer, if you’re a hophead like me. Nice find!

Pours unclear dark amber. Good to big white head. Smell is weak, mild bitterness. Some yeast. Taste is bit bitter, very malty , aromatic ambermalts. Very mild hoparoma. Really, really weak on the hops. if I base myself on this description, currently on ratebeer, i am bound to be let down. Selling it as a IPA is kinda dumb. I totally agree Belgium has much progress to be made, but there are some IPA’s out there, far more hoppy, better IPA’s than this. It’s an above average amber ale of very good quality, but not an IPA at all. nice drinkin’ beer nevetheless. i enjoy the body and the carbo. Just needs about 5 times the intensity of hops to make scense as an IPA

15/10/2016 - draft sample @ Bles Bierhappening Amber colour with creamy head. Nose us bitter and fruity. Taste is fruity, bitterness, bit grassy.