Cuvée Houdini

Small yellowish cream head, finely carbonated over unclear foxy-amber beer. Yeast/proteins in suspension. Bit "fiery" nose, sharp-ish, sweetish and light sour. Orangepeel, spices, caramel, overripe grapes. Quite spicy taste, with a typical spice-induced bitterness. Bolsters, again (preserved) orangepeel, stewed (stone)fruit - a bit too stewed - earthy notes. Caramel with less sweetness. Burning MF, good carbonation, slick to viscous, well bodied for 6%. I really wonder if this beer matches the intended flavour. If so, original, but not prone to easy drinking. Txs to Stef!

33cl bottle from Cora in Brussels. F: thin, tan, quick gone. C: amber coppery, hazy with UFO´s. A: malty, bit sour fruity, spicy, some caramel, apricot, bit rhubarb. T: medium malty base, light sour fruity, rhubarb, orange touch, bit spicy, caramel, banana touch, medium carbonation, good one, enjoyed.

Belgian spiced ale from a 75 cl bottle with red hangtag, shared with Goedele. Extremely strong gusher: it was impossible to remove the crown cap without considerable loss, and foam kept creeping out of the bottle in large quantities for minutes on end. What ended up in the glass, showed a typical ‘gusher look’: initially very thick and coarse, eggshell white, large-bubbled, irregular head collapsing into some loose patches quickly and eventually disappearing completely, over an immediately cloudy and murky, ‘dirty’ orange peach blonde beer with a brownish tinge that grows darker and more pronounced as more of the bottle goes into the glass. Aroma of oven-baked apricots, marmalade, apple sauce, melting powder sugar, strong spicy and even somewhat medicinal phenols (cloves, liquorice, allspice, even cough syrup), soggy bread crust, coriander, rhubarb pie, pear juice, honey, moist white pepper. Overly estery onset, lots and lots of peach, stewed apples and overripe pear and nectarine, some banana mush, with a load of residual white candi syrup sweetness on top but also a gooseberry-ish sourishness underneath with a ‘dirty’ flavour to it – probably the result of an infection, but not too overpowering, luckily. Carbonation is sharp and numbing initially, mouthfeel is fluffy and a tad powdery. Wet bread- and slightly peanut-like malt core with a thick honeyish residual sugar sweetness weighing quite heavily on it, leading to a ‘dirty’, very earthy finish with lots and lots of spicy and mildly medicinal phenols retronasally as well as coriander- and allspice-like ‘real’ spiciness and an orange flesh-like effect lifting the beer out of its own murkiness. Earthy, powdery yeast effects and residual honeyish sweetness linger, with a fair amount of peppery hop bitterishness for balance, but the ‘dirty sourishness’ of the infection continues along with it. Clearly – and like the previous En Stoemelings beer I had – something went technically wrong here, infection has struck with devastating effects on the appearance of this beer, but I must admit that I can still appreciate an earthy, ‘dirty’, phenolic Belgian every now and then and this one clearly falls under that category, yet better than average in pure terms of flavour, with an ‘orangey’ brightness and late but effective hop bitterness to it which I can certainly appreciate. Too bad for the heavy gushing and infected aspects, but the basic flavour as such was pleasant enough so I will not be too severe in rating this.

Sampled at BLX Beer Fest. Muddy orange pour with a light tan head. Notes of caramel, caramelized oranges, malt and some dried fruit. A bit too sweet, even for a Belgian ale.

From tap. Pours hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma is mild herbal. Slight phenolic. Toasted malt. Sweet, slight fruity. Light phenolic and toasted malt. Light herbal and phenolic finish.

Bxlbeerfest. Pours red amber. Aroma is sweet, caramel, fruits. Flavor is sweet and bitter, fruits, sugar, csrsmel, malt. Overall: ok-ish. --- Beer merged from original tick of Cuvée Houdini - on 30 Jan 2019 at 10:30. Original review text: bl

7 3 7 3 14 Draft at BXL Beer Fest, Brussels ’17. Very hazy amber brown with a cream coloured head. Aroma of malt, caramel, herbs and yeast. Flavour is moderate sweet and bitter. Medium bodied with light carbonation.

Botella de @En Stoemelings, Bruselas. 17/12/2016. Color ambarino, sabor dulce, malta, cuerpo medio

16/08/2016 @home - 33cl bottle from the brewery.Clear red-amber with big white head that is quickly gone. Nose is some malts, caramel. Taste is malts, some caramel, sugary, yeast and a sourish touch. Dissapointment! So, I’m on their top 5!