Alengrin (11609) reviewed Damme Nation from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
One of several beers from a brand new, internationally oriented micro brewery in Damme, located in an old restaurant there. Bottle from Deconinck. Thick, frothy, off-white, very dense head leaving a large amount of ’membranous’ lacing on the edge of the glass and crowning a cloudy, deep orange blonde or even amberish beer with coppery hue. Aroma of grapefruit flesh or juice, toasted onion, stale orange juice, paprika, soap, warm toast, dried mango, dry earth, horseradish, sweet potato, withering flowers, wormwood, fried egg, fermenting pine needles, old brown bread, walnut, cloves, old dried thyme, roasted peanuts, unripe peach and even, in the very end, something vaguely manure-like (perhaps the ominous sign of an onsetting E. coli infection?). Fruity onset, crisp with a sweetish component of peach and fig but very subdued, as well as an equally restrained sourish dried berry-like aspect; lively carbonation, minerally and sharp, a tad overcarbonated for this style even, coarsening an otherwise supple, smooth but also rather soapy mouthfeel. Nutty malt core quickly becoming very toasted, softly bittering, matching well with an uncompromizing, resinous, grapefruity, very spicy and long-lasting, leafy, drying hop bitterness that makes up the largest part of the finish; Belgian esters and phenols, though unmistakably present (the latter in the usual spicy, clove-like form), remain fairly limited, not bothering the display of American hoppiness too much. Some bready, almost powdery yeastiness lingers too, especially after adding the sediment to the glass. The intention is apparently to support the ’international style’ IPA onto the Belgian market and I get their point: the international thirst for hops usually manifests itself as an extra layer of bitterness onto classic Belgian blondes and tripels in this country, leading to a hybrid ’Belgian IPA’ style; very few breweries have managed - or even attempted - to radically rule out the classical Belgian ale yeast features and create a completely clean, Anglo-Saxon IPA. I can think of a few examples but those are relatively unknown so these guys make sense in trying to achieve this, but this beer still has too much off-side yeastiness (phenols especially) going on to fully satisfy their own goal. Still, this is less Belgian than most other of these Belgian IPAs, its general profile makes clear that these guys know what they want. I am confident that they will reach their goal soon enough, as this is, all things considered, very promising; it has a hop bitterness which is both uncompromizing and aromatic, a bit on the harsh side even. I would suggest Siphon to clean this up and then direct it more towards the New England IPA style where the aromatic qualities of these new hops are more prevalent than their purely bittering properties. In any case: very enjoyable beer, if you’re a hophead like me. Nice find!
DerPhilynck (3851) ticked Damme Nation from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Benzai (24515) reviewed Tronk from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4
Dark red-brown to brown color, average sized beige to light brown head. Smell and taste lightly malts, diacetyl, butter, bitter. Off, totally off. Not good. (Although I had a cold when I tried it so it might be me...)
Sloefmans (15389) reviewed Tronk from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Small light-greige head over black beer. Liquorice, bit spicy, wood, sweetish roasted malts. Liquorice, drop, vanilla, orangepeel. Sweetness becomes more prominent warming up. Roasted and drier in the finish. Not Belgian in MF, missing backbone. Seriously missing body, certainly for its ABV. Feels much less strong than it is, this way. Sample might be a bit young, aging might well improve this.
77ships (14506) reviewed Tronk from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
[Thank you for sharing!][750 ml. bottle sampled @ O.B.E.R. Kerstbierfestival 2016] Black, tanned head. Nose is mocha, low chocolate with far too much gravy, overly umami. Taste is overly big on gravy, umami, herbal, grainy, low roast, cheap chocolate, lingering coal & umami finish, far too umami with some odd notes. Body is gravy, umami syrup. Didn’t get the vanilla & orange peel at all that were used here.
VastActiv (16429) reviewed Cassandra from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Tap at One Pint Pub, Helsinki. Colour is dark brown with large brownish head. Aromas and flavors: Grain, coffee, some chocolate, dryness and roasted malts.
yespr (55501) reviewed Tronk from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
75 cl bottle. Pours pitch black with a small tan head. Aroma is roasted malty and slight fruity. Mild spiced. Roasted and dark malty. Breadish. Roasted and slight spiced.bitter and dry malty finish.
mjs (11994) reviewed Cassandra from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
(Keg at One Pint Pub, 20161216) The beer poured black. Its head was medium sized and lightly brown. Aroma had cocoa, dark chocolate and creamy coffee. Palate was full bodied with medium carbonation. Flavours were coffee, burnt malts, ash, sweetness and bitterness. Aftertaste was ashy and bitter. A brew with good aroma but too burnt finish.
Kraddel (15844) reviewed Blinker from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 9
pours unclear blonde, extremely big white head. Smell is bit spiced. Some lemon features. mild bitterness. Taste is bitter, intense, overcarbonated as fuck. Some lemons, decently yeasty (saison yeast). Ok beer in general, just way to damn much carbonation.
Kraddel (15844) reviewed Damme Nation from Siphon Brewing 9 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9
Pours unclear dark amber. Good to big white head. Smell is weak, mild bitterness. Some yeast. Taste is bit bitter, very malty , aromatic ambermalts. Very mild hoparoma. Really, really weak on the hops. if I base myself on this description, currently on ratebeer, i am bound to be let down. Selling it as a IPA is kinda dumb. I totally agree Belgium has much progress to be made, but there are some IPA’s out there, far more hoppy, better IPA’s than this. It’s an above average amber ale of very good quality, but not an IPA at all. nice drinkin’ beer nevetheless. i enjoy the body and the carbo. Just needs about 5 times the intensity of hops to make scense as an IPA