Lightly hazed golden ale wuith a thick light moka head. Pleasant hops aroma, like a filed of hops and cloves. In mout, sweet honey malt, with nice crisp complex hops, citrus, treacle. Complex body and smooth. At EBF 2006.

Another one of which I’ve had numerous samples at different fests but have failed to review yet, so here we go. All have been draught samples, the most recent being at EBF ’06.
Just a stunning appearance, really. Dense, near Orval-like head is wonderfully well-retained. You have to be very patient to let it settle down so that you can unlock more of the aroma than what it gives off at first while the head is still large. The body is lightly hazy, amber-beige with light lemon-lime skin hues, miniscule bubbles and sheets of lace as it proceeds down the glass all too easily. The nose shows light tropical fruits, easygoing citrus (lemons, limes, red grapefruit), smooth undercurrents of honeyish malts and a splash of tangerines and almost wintergreen esters on the end. Profound and sinus-clearing, it is minty and herbal, yet at the same time citrusy and sweet.
The flavor is a cacaphony of hops, yet they seem wedded to the malt better than most examples. The carbonation effortlessly carries the bright and lively hop flavors and pale sugars, hand-in-hand, while light bits of lime tartness and a scratch of pine surface towards the end. Strong and certainly warming, but otherwise tremendously well concealed is the alcohol. Like the best in its class (in my mind), the hop flavor far, far, far exceeds the hop bitterness/acidity. Nor does the malt become cloying or overly syrupy. Lingering on the finish, I keep finding little hints of mint/spearmint/wintergreen, something like that mixed with a delectable hint of lime. I don’t find this to be extremely bitter at all. Medium-full to full body, tight, expressive carbonation, no wateriness or thinning whatsoever. Give me a bit more malt complexity and maybe throw in some more tropical fruits or something to further stand this one apart in the style and it would be perfect.

Bottle#167. Aroma of very fresh hops, awesome. Dark golden colour. Aromatic hop flavour with some pepper. Good mouthfeel. Quite strong. Very good brew.