Small cream-coloured head over deep dark ruby beer. Rich, fruity, estery and boozy nose; wood lagered spirits, with a sweet, rich velvety aroma, even a bit musky. Ripe banana. Vinous flavour, rich, again fusely with both fruity and spicy esters. Faint cheesy notes, hot fermenting fruit. Finish has liquorice. Full bodied, chewy, oily, alcoholheat; fiery MF. Rich, as said. Most beery and classic of the three 2025 Escorts. Txs to Stef!

Tripel by Cabardouche in Antwerp, using a few classic hops, two of which belong to the most classic New World varieties one can think of, while the third is among the most classic English varieties. Can found - strangely - in a supermarket in Ghent rather than Antwerp, now exactly half a year old. Foamy, egg-white, thick and fluffy, plastery lacing, stable head on an initially clear warm 'old golden' robe with ochre-ish tinge and strings of lively sparkling in the middle. Not very inviting aroma of (over)ripe persimmon, cooked carrots, 'oude jenever', spoiled chervil soup, pond water, soggy old bread, withering leek, tamarillo, pear peel, cooked pumpkin, overcooked green beans, sulfuric elements (even a very vague hint at H2S). Fruity onset, hints of pear, persimmon and cooked courgette, sweetish at first but quickly drying, with a vague sourish tamarillo-like touch underneath, lively carbonated; smooth, fluffy mouthfeel, a soggy-bready maltiness thinned by alcohol in an early stage, but also bittered by these iconic hop varieties, bringing peppery and leafy flavours which are admittedly quite outspoken for a Belgian style tripel. Retronasally though, I get more tomato soup, chervil soup and even chicken soup than the typical aromas I would associate with Cascade, Tomahawk (identical to Columbus according to scientific research, by the way) and Target. There is an element of 'broad' hop bitterness as promised, but unfortunately, much more bitterness - or, better put, wryness - comes from 'jenever'-like, astringent, heating alcohol dominating the finish, burning away the hop flavours like a smouldering bonfire. If the classic aromas of these iconic hops could have been saved from this greedy and agressive alcohol, then this probably would have been a very interesting tripel, but in this form, too boozy for me personally.

NEIPA by Cabardouche in Antwerp, found - oddly perhaps - in canned form in a supermarket in Ghent. Now six months old. Snow white, medium thick, uneven-bubbled but quite stable yet dissolving all but completely in the end, membrane-lacing head on a hazy yellow blonde beer with warmer apricot tinge. Aroma of ripe papaya, yuzu, jasmin blossoms, ricotta, lemon butter, stale sweat, 'diesel' dankness, pear juice, canned guava juice or guava-flavoured soda, olive oil, mangosteen, something very vaguely minty in the background, soap. Exotically fruity onset though not over the top, impressions of ripe pear and pineapple over mangosteen, carambola and a dash of passionfruit, sweetish but only aromatically so, meeting expectations; spritzy carb, perhaps a tad sharp for the intended style. Smooth, barley porridge-like core, babyfood-like almost but with a grainy edge, deeply soaked in the recurring aromatics of papaya, mangosteen and sweet exotic citrus (honey pomelo) that fill the retronasal department completely. Side hints of overripe pear and 'diesel' linger, while the hop bitterness down below remains soft and mellow, but noticeable faraway in the background, briefly surging during swallowing, with a pleasant peppery feel to it. A bit over its prime already, no doubt, but ticking all the boxes for a modern New England IPA - even offering an agreeable hop bitter element lingering in the finish, next to all the typical exotic fruit and sweet citrus aromas and soft porridge-like maltiness one tends to expect from the genre. No hop burn, no 'Belgian' influences and no complaints - this is indeed a textbook example of its intended style. I have always liked Cabardouche even from the start (when I lived much closer to Antwerp and was thus confronted with their beers more frequently), so it is pleasant enough to establish that years later, they manage to deliver a NEIPA meeting the international standards of the genre.

Veiled straw-ochre beer with a small rim. Apples, Calvados, old wood, dried grains & kernels, fusels. Apples, curry (yes!), currypowder, applecurry. This is mindbending flavourprofile. There is a faint oxydation, in the best possible way. Finish has some Granny Smith. Medium bodied, but a tad empty feel. Not very carbonated. Original. And if I say 'applecurry', I MEAN applecurry! Txs to Stef!

Shortlived cream-coloured head over clear, pale copper beer. Honey, spices, thyme, bit sharpish nose, solvent. Sweet, thyme, gum, rubber, mead. Alcoholsweetness (and -burn, of course), enhanced by the honey. Finish is almost raw alcohol. Very oily feel, however, viscous, low carbonation. Sorry guys, but this can't convince me. The spices lend this braggot something really artificial, it's as chewing on an eraser. Txs to Stef!

Draught Medium, stable cream-yellow head over brownish tinted black beer. Coffee, café au lait, Café Noir cookies, light roast and a faint mineral streak. Mocha, black & milkchocolate mixed, koffiebonen. Roasted nuts, coffeecream. Medium bodied, quite slick, good carbonation. Decent, amusing porter, difficult (and not necessary) to substyle.

Draught Very dense & fine yellow head, leaving lace over fully hazy ochre-ish beer, lively carbonated. Fresh C-hops, straw, nectarine, citruspeel. Very inviting indeed! More of the same in the oral cavity. Absolutely excellent and intruiging choice of hops with clear fruit(peel) flavours, just a touch of resin, bit straw adn not a trace of asafoetida, ureum nor hopburn. Well carbonated, spritzy, bit slick, medium bodied. This is without doubt one of Flanders' finest true IPA's.

Süffiger, dunkel malziger Beginn, herb, würzig, erhöhte Karbonisierung. Noten von Kaffee, moderat herb, angenehm hopfig, zunehmend alkoholisch, was aber nie stört. Würzig bleibend, langer Nachhall. 8/11/11/11/10/11

A clear golden yellow beer with a white head. Aroma of wheat malt, spices, some brett. Taste of herbal wheat malt, grains, yeast, mild metallic bitter hops.