7.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Bottle at Fujiyama 55 Leiden. Pours black, rather thick head. Aroma is dark malts, roasted barley, chocolate. Medium body. Flavour is malty, lots of dark malts, smooth, chocolate, Belgian. More somewhere between a dubbel and a Belgian strong than a stout. But not bad. Finish is bittersweet. Not bad.

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

--Bottled at Pressklubben, Stockholm. -- Clear golden, small head. Aroma of lemon and jalapeño. Tart and citric with medium body and clean, rounded mouthfeel. Bell pepper and citric acid. Fairly low bitterness. The base beer is pretty basic, as far as lambics go. Could be awesome with better lambic base.

6.6

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

The newest Owa lambic to date, this time with a Japanese ingredient that indeed has not been used before (nor in any other beer in the world, perhaps): gari, the pickled ginger used as a side dish to accompany sushi and sashimi. Some minute, egg-white bubbles appear round the edge of the glass right after pouring, but these dissolve all but immediately so that this beer is indeed ‘de facto’ headless; hazy golden blonde with warmer ochre-ish tinge. Aroma is very, but really very strongly dominated by gari – this is ginger all over the place, even in its raw form, completely overruling much subtler notes of sour apple, green pear, cucumber, sourdough, kombucha, piccalilli – and then that ginger again. Tart onset, sour apple and cucumber, but almost immediately after that, the sweetness of the gari (which is partially candied in sugar!) takes over, almost laying a blanket of ‘glacé sweetness’ over the basic tartness, until it fades away again; carbonation remains flat, mouthfeel as a result is a tad watery. Smooth, wheaty base, lots of the gari flavour remaining till deep into the finish, with both sweetness and spicy-soapiness dominating; some tannic woodiness and an earthy funky note appear, adding underlying complexity, but with this kind of ingredient at such doses, this was never going to be subtle, of course. And heck, if you do a gari lambic, then why not go all the way and do it like this… I am sure a good Japanese or otherwise Asian chef could find good use for this product in his cuisine – and I do not mean that in a derogatory way at all. Weird but unique, as often with these Owa lambics; just stay as far away from it as you possibly can if you dislike ginger. I do kind of like it, so this was a lovely sour ginger juice for me, if obviously an one-trick pony…

7.3

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

05/VI/21 - 37.5cl bottle @ home, BB: III/2026 (2021-456) Thanks to Alengrin for sharing the bottle!

Cloudy orange blond beer, small to no head. Aroma: very funky, lots and lots of ginger, more ginger, lemony, some chlorine, herbal, some basil.MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: wow, this is very spicy, lots and lots of ginger, more ginger, bit lemony, pretty acidic, and sugary at the same time, weird flavour combo. Aftertaste: sweet and sugary, lots and lots of ginger, zesty, lime and lemon peel, very spicy, weird… Not bad, not great, but interesting at least.

8.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5

Bottle at home, 2018 batch. Slightly opaque golden with white head. Lemon urinal cake aroma when cold, a bit more lemon and less detergent when warming a little. Taste is sharp yuzu upfront leading into a pithy grapefruit bitterness. Very bitter citrusy finish. Intriguing and unique. Love it!

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle 375ml. @ ECVT2021-01 🍺 [ El Catador Vestjylland Tasting 2021-01 ] - fonefan & Brugmansia House, 🇩🇰 Denmark.

[ As OWA Kyoho Lambic ].
ABV: 5.5%. Clear medium yellow colour with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, white head. Aroma is moderate malty, wheat, moderate yeasty, dough, horse blanket, grapes, white grapes, wood. Flavor is moderate sweet and light acidic with a long duration, tart, citric, grapes, white grapes, funky, barnyard, dry. Body is medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft. [20210417]
7-4-8-4-16

8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

OWA, the Brussels company lead by a Japanese entrepreneur, is primarily known for Japanese-themed lambics, but has done some top-fermenting beers in the past as well. This one was created in 2017 and is actually their Kuro, a strong Belgian dark (a ‘massieve ale’ as the old OBP used to say), aged on red wine barrels; rating from a four year old vintage bottle. Releases a lot of pressure upon opening, but no sign of gushing. Towering high, rocky, thickly plastery lacing, pale yellowish beige, indeed cauliflower-like head, thinning only slowly over a misty, dark chestnut brown beer with vermillion red tinge. Complex and very ‘oud bruin’-like aroma, passionfruit, wet old wood (including ‘oaky vanilla’), dry red wine, dry sherry, a touch of sweat, medlar, dry forest floor and autumn leaves, blackcurrant, fig juice, almond, tea, blue grapes, black cherries or ripe blackberries, brown bread. Sweet onset though not cloying and mitigated by underlying sourness from the wine barreling; blackberries, dark plums, figs and some cherry spring to mind, fizzy carbonation (initially too sharp but calming down further on); full brown-bready malt body with a caramelly core, carrying the sweet-and-tart fruitiness along as well as supporting spicy elements and a herbal, tea-ish hop touch, before the tart aspect and thus the wine barrel treatment decides to take over, adding a vinous quality, lots of ‘old’ woodiness, a certain charming ‘dustiness’ and a clear dry red wine flavour, also reminiscent of actual blue grapes and dry sherry. Complex, fruity, ‘dark’, soothing, vinous finish – a lot goes on in this beer, and not only physically with the high pressure and all, but much more importantly so in terms of flavour. I never had this one young, but I can assess that this is a top quality vintage beer, very ‘Belgian’ in a noble, complex way; as usual with wine barrel aged dubbels and quads, it has become a bit ‘oud bruin’-like and I can only assume that my sample has aged very well. Much better than expected even.

7

2020

8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Bottle at the 2nd test tasting, H'zmere, 16/07/20 picked up a while back online from one of the Belgo peddlers. Hazed golden amber with a good sized off white covering. Nose is wood must, funk, strawberry pips, dungy notes. Taste comprises sharp berry tones, strawberry yoghurt, damp cloth, vinous, sharp berry fruits, funk, damp oak. Medium bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close with a balanced acidic rip. Solid work.