Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Blonde, hoppy and 'spicy' ale in a series of ever-changing recipes simply dubbed "Speciaal" - unfortunately, at least in this case there was no further specification (and none received upon asking the staff), so for lack of details I had no choice but to put it here plainly as "Speciaal", the way it was sold two weeks ago at this Hopspot café and microbrewery in Evergem. Fluffy and pillowy, snow white, medium thick, plaster-like lacing, stable head on a clear warm apricot blonde robe with 'old golden' glow. Aroma of wormwood, dandelion, motherwort and other very bitter weeds, 'witloof', spiced crackers, bread crust, moist white pepper, tonic water, something sulfuric. Dryish onset in a very restrainedly fruity way, hint of unripe apricot perhaps, minerally carbonated with smooth body; slick grainy core with a vague metallic touch, quickly overcome by a very rooty, leafy, tonic water- and wormwood-like 'raw' bitterness, very astringent and sadly very low in hop aromas. Clean, straightforward and indeed spicy in a weedy, very bitter way, like an oldskool Belgian bitter blonde rather than anything actually IPA-like. Odd and not very impressive, but admittedly the most interesting one of the three Hopspot beers I tasted there that day.