Soleil (General)
(has 4 batches)

On tap at Moeder Lambic, pours a muddy pineapple gold with some lacing, white head. Nose has grist, flowers, lemon, green notes. Flavor is better, nearing IPA with a gristy malt backbone and a lemony, green grassy hop note. Finishes dry, creamy with some yeast finally with some bitterness. A near perfect house beer.

Bottle from Geers. Best Before 11/2018. Hazy yellow colour, white foam. Lively carbonation. Fruity nose (tropical fruit). Yeasty and wheat flavour, light tart, grassy, dry. bitter finish.

Bottle from Brussels Beer Box - and since it is bottled, I assume my rating belongs here, as the other variations seem to exist only from tap; no hop varieties are mentioned here, sadly. Tightly 'membranously' lacing, eggshell-white, very moussy, bit irregular head, closed but showing a few gaps after several minutes, yet generally very stable; immediately hazy warm ochre-tinged 'old gold' coloured beer with peachy hue. Quite 'dank' aroma, impressions of grapefruit peel, lemon rind, rainwater, white bread dough, hay, onion slices sweating in hot arachide oil, hot French fries even, brown soap or even bath foam somewhere, green olives, dry bread crust, grey-green wormwood leaves, lots of white pepper, old cucumber, cloth, hint of sundried tomatoes. Crisp, fruity onset, only very vaguely sweetish with sourish edges, unripe green banana, hints of hard Conférence pear and unripe melon, medium carbonated with minerally effects nonetheless, slick and slightly 'creamy' mouthfeel, feeling relatively full for a beer below 5% ABV. Bit doughy middle, soapy wheatiness very apparent, soft fresh white bread slices adding the barley factor, lean and soft, quickly making room for a very spicy hoppy finish, aromatic, a tad 'green', with retronasal hints of grapefruit, onions and frying oil; ends in a 'modern', IPA-inspired hop bitterness, with that wheaty soapiness still lingering, yet dry and oily. Powdery yeast notes remain as long as the spicy, eventually very peppery and grapefruity hop bitterness. After Senne's pioneering work and BBP's decidedly non-Belgian approach, a bunch of small, entrepreneurial micro breweries have popped up in Brussels and this one, still very young, sits in the core of this new Brussels elan. These guys' enthusiasm is obvious enough and in spite of the very traditionally Belgian-sounding name of their company, their beers are all but Belgian in style, opting for cleaner yeast profiles and, above all, a generous dosage of American style hopping. This particular one is a good example of Ermitage's range: there is nothing even remotely reminiscent of the old Belgian witbier standard here, this is indeed an American style wheat ale 'pur sang', the originally hopped-up American craft interpretation of German Weissbier - but meanwhile having evolved into a craft beer style in its own right. A style I don't think I have seen so far in Belgium - have a point for that. Perhaps the hops are a bit over the top here, as I still expect more emphasis on the refreshing, smooth and rounded, bready qualities of the wheat in any kind of wheat ale including the American style - this is better interpreted as a "white IPA", including a lot of dankness, which I think the average Belgian consumer would struggle with. For those familiar with this American approach and seen in an international context: quite alright, this one, uncompromizing and pleasantly peppery and drying - in other words: containing a whole lot of flavour for its modest ABV. "Session white IPA" sums this up best, I think - with no link to Belgian ale traditions whatsoever. Nice, but due to the uninformative label, I am still left a bit unsatisfied: which hops went in here? I could make an educated guess...

Bouteille 33cl, holy gusher batman. Dommage, une bonne partie a fini sur la table. Couleur dorée, paille, col fin blanc. Arôme au bouquet houblonné fin, agrumes, herbacé avec un rétro tropical et cela malgré la perte, retrouve de fines effluves de grains en rétro. Palais est malté avec une petite rondeur en bouche complété par le caractère houblonné; citronné, agrumes, le tout reste cependant un peu trop actif, même en bouche au niveau de l'effervescence. Dans l'état, à redécouvrir plus tard.

330 ml. bottle. BBF 01/08/2018. GUSHER too bad since they just started their own production facility. Hazy bright golden, huge que gusher, collapsing white head. Nose is big cheesy, bitter green soap, cheesy hop, low fruity. Carbonation is very high. Dry, very green bitter weeds, citrus soap, grass, very green bitter, rather soapy,… Some flaky dry wheat that coats your mouth, bit soapy. Bit round but very nice De La Senne / De Ranke styled bitter Belgian styled ale. Very solid. Possibly the Simcoe & Sorachi version but I am guessing.

20/10/2017 - draught glass shared with 77ships and someon else @Wanderlust. Hazy light yellow with soapy white head. Nose is soapy hops, bitter. Taste has some grapefruit, some citrus, bit floral, bitter ending.

Thanks to Bierridder_S & Stijn B.! Sampled draft @ BBP Anniversary Festival 2017. Hazy citrus, soapy white head. Soapy fruity hop, faint Sorachi cheese but more floral hop. Taste is dry bitter, grass, hugely floral, low Sorachi cheese hidden in the back. Lively dry hugely floral, almost perfume beer, low plastic. Interesting De Ranke / De La Senne styled beer, dry floral, perfume, green, light bodied. Nice. Not the expected hop profile.

F: huge, white, good retention. C: murky/gold, hazy. A: light passion fruits, grapefruits, tangerine, orange peels, grassy, bit spicy, yeasty. T: malty backbone, peppery, grapefruits, light tropical fruits, long lasting bitterness on the palate, it is influenced by American style, very nice, medium body and carbonation, very good, enjoyed, so many peoples in BXL festival and no one rate this :), 33cl bottle from Malt Attacks in Brussels.