Stroom Brouwers Carlito

Carlito

 

Stroom Brouwers in Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪

  Pale Ale - American Style / APA Regular
Score
6.63
ABV: 4.3% IBU: 35 Ticks: 6
This beer was brewed to be an all-nighter. It's easy drinking but with plenty of hop bite to leave you thirsty for another. It has a mix of Belgian Cascade, Simcoe and just a bit of Citra. Most of the hops end up in the whirlpool, which is what gives it the complex bitterness. A small dry hop lends a hint of lemon zest and pine. The grain bill is just pilsner and wheat, making a brilliant pale yellow. At 4.3%, you won't feel bad about throwing back more than one.
 

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6.4
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Can from Delhaize Wondelgem.
A: clear beige, small, frothy, off-white head.
A: crackers, potato, leek, bread crust, pale malt.
T: sweetish bread, pale malt, cracker, apple peel.
F: grassy hops, pine, yeast, some grapefruit.
P: medium body, slick texture, soft carbonation.
Decent but expected more flavour, even for a Session.

Tried on 11 Sep 2025 at 09:36


7.1
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

33cl can from Carrefour market LA CHASSE (BRUSSEL).
F: big, white, good retention.
C: blonde, light hazy.
A: yellow kiwi, grapefruits, floral, spicy, pears.
T: medium malty base, grapefruits, bit mineral, orange, bit yellow tropical fruits, nice balanced harmonic bitterness, medium carbonation, nice easy drinkable, enjoyed.

Tried from Can on 08 Jul 2025 at 18:33


5.9
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

330 ml can. Pours a pale gold with light head. Aromas of biscuity malts and dull citrus. Flavors follow same with some additional stale hops and grain. Comes across like a non alcoholic beer.

Tried from Can on 15 Jun 2025 at 15:43


7.3
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8

One of Stroom's new beers, a "session pale ale" hopped with Magnum, Cascade (grown in Belgium), Citra and a dash of Simcoe and fermented with US-05 yeast, meaning that this one is intended as an American style ale rather than a Belgian style one (not surprising seen the source - and perhaps luckily so, in this case). Inches thick, beaten egg-white, membrane-lacing, regular, dense, foamy head over an initially crystal clear pale and pure golden blonde robe with disparate visible sparkling, turning misty and deeper golden further on. Aroma of grapefruit zest, orange pith, spiced dry crackers, lemon thyme, green apple skin, halfripe pear, sugared rhubarb stew, lemon orchard, jasmin blossoms, matcha, raw Kohlrabi, green algae faraway in the background. Crisp onset, lively carbonation with very stingy, minerally effects (hindering drinkability a bit initially), dryish with some vague hints at dried apple peel, green pear and unripe green plum - contrasting in its dryness with the sweet elements in the orthonasal aroma. Quite full-bodied middle in spite of its modest ABV, a straight-edged cereally and dry cracker-like pale maltiness, a bit grainy at the edges but rounder, quickly bittered by peppery, wormwoody and herbal (thyme) hops, offering a confident, leafy, somewhat tonic water-like bitterness which lasts for a long time. Retronasally, some tiny 'imperfections' appear, like in old dry potato starch disrupting the hops a bit - but all things considered, this beer does it Carlito's way, and is an interesting addition to Stroom's range, with a pleasant dryness and bitterness still combined with a certain 'roundness'. I can imagine myself drinking this all night in a pub near to the brewery (Kleine Kunst!), but there is something dusty and powdery to my sample which I reckon will not be present when sampled fresh, so I hope to encounter it from tap somewhere in Ghent.

Tried on 24 May 2025 at 00:44


Beer tick image

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

33cl can, merci Tim, BB 10/2026.
Dorée Claire, col blanc épais crémeux tenace.
Arôme est frais, délicat avec les houblons, pointe d’agrumes en rétro-nasal – le Magnum me semble plus à son aise. Appui par une base maltée centrée autour du pils.
Palais est ‘crisp’, malté pils marqué repris en appui par les houblons – un peu sur les agrumes et des notes e mandarine. Caramel avec une pointe toastée – finement terreux en bouche avec ce côté anglais rencontre un clin d’œil américain – léger pamplemousse et herbacé sur la fin.

Tried from Can on 29 Apr 2025 at 12:18


5.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

28/II/25 - 33cl can from the brewery, shared @ home, BB: 10/I/26 (2025-151)

Clear pale yellow beer, big slightly irregular white head, pretty stable, non adhesive. Aroma: sulphur, some citrus, yeasty, CO2, hay, some barnyard, a little herbal, a hint of citrus, more sulphur. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: a bit sourish up front, slightly lemony, more of that sulphur, pretty bitter, a little medicinal, almost metallic touch, grassy notes. Aftertaste: more lemony, a soft acidity with some bitter herbal notes, some arrowroot, sulphur again, metallic finish, not very good alas.

Tried from Can on 28 Feb 2025 at 19:00