Bottle from Cotteridge Wines; clear straw yellow pour with a big frothy white head, aroma has grapefruit and pine, taste has peach, zesty citrus, sweet malts, dank pine.

Hazy orange with a wispy white head. Fruity, pine, resinous hops. Lightly sweet malts back up the hop and are almost too strong but show just enough restraint to keep it a hop forward beer. One pint is enough though, honestly.

Bottle. Strange popping sound when opening. Grapefruit and light pine aroma. Citrus and grapefruit flavor with backing pine and malt. Medium bodied. Pine and citrus/grapefruit lingers.

Bomber from Olive Tree Market. Pouring the bomber results in a huge aroma of mangoes and papaya, very fruity. Lightly hazy orange with a big off white head. Flavor is lightly bitter, lightly sweet with lots of tropical fruitiness.

650ml bottle. Clear, copper-ish amber colour with average, frothy, half-way lasting, minimally lacing, off-white head. Piney hoppy aroma, fruity hints of mango, caramel malty background. Taste is moderately bitter hoppy, piney, some slightly disguised tropical fruit, mango. Decent.

Fonefan 191214. Deep golden-orange colour with an off-white head. Aroma is fruit, malt, pine, grapefruit, peaches. Flavour is fruit, malt, hop, pine, grapefruit, peaches, caramel, alcohol. Full body. OK/Nice beer.

Bottle from last year, with a rather complicated but charming drawing of spring on it and therefore appropriate for a spring afternoon tasting; according to the text on the back, a collab between this Californian brewery and a French brewer. I am apparently the first Belgian to rate this Belgian style ale here. Deep orangey peach blonde colour, cloudy with a ’fog’ of yeast bits as well as a vivid fizz, and deep murky amber with deposit, under a lacing, egg-white, irregular, moussy head. Nice fruity, pretty delicate and moderately hoppy aroma of apricot, overripe pear, banana, dried orange peel which I understand has effectively been used, butterscotch, lots of freshly toasted bread, bitter honey (also used), touch of pine cones, fresh ginger, buttermilk, lavender, soap, rosewater, pink grapefruit, hints of liquorice and an unmistakably animalistic ’fertilized farmland’ odour fitting in quite well; in all, a delicate, gentle, inviting bouquet. Delicate but lively fruitiness opens the palate, mango, orange, pomegranate, gooseberry, ’citric’ fraîcheur, refined but ’tingling’ carbonation, smooth and slightly oily mouthfeel, light umami touch; lovely caramelly, bready and somewhat nutty malt sweetishness in the middle with an array of almost Belgian-like ’spicy yeastiness’ dancing on top; and finishing with lingering, juicy malt sweetness, a faint hint of brandy-like alcohol with gently warming effect rather than burning, and a fair deal of lovely floral and citrussy, resinous, aromatic hops, coating the back of the mouth, along with a deeper, earthier, basic hop bitterness for balance. Very American in being a tripel with almost IPA-influenced hop profile, yet much more soft and subtle; this is an elegantly delicate tripel, much more so than many Belgian examples. No cloying sweetness, no overpowering alcohol, no phenols or other undesirable fermentation remnants: this beer is very well made, but perhaps just a bit (too) ’clean’ to really fit the Belgian tripel style: I’d situate this in between an American style IPA and a Belgian tripel, with more of the first than the latter. I therefore think "American strong ale" would be more appropriate as a style classification, but that’s from a Belgian point of view, of course. In any case: very pleasant and enjoyable with remarkable ’drinkability’ for its ABV, glad I bought it.

Pour is a murky yellow with a large white head. Aroma is wheat malt and some hefe creamy yeast esters. Flavor is a chewy wheat malt with some dry breadyness and not much of an aftertaste. No really banana or clove thing from the yeast. This is more of just a plain old wheat ale then a German hefe.