Pours very dark brown - yet not totally black. Small , nearly no head. Scent is grainy, deep and wide . Mild roast (dark, not black malts). no hoparoma, no yeastaroma. Taste is thick, loads of maltyness, obviously. Soy sauce. Very restrained bitterness. Medium intense to intense sweetness. Dark chocolate. Doesn't have the typical fruity esthers of a quad, so I'd call this more of a Belgian Dark Strong Ale myself - but of course those are details. Strong maltyness, fairly thick and sweet - kinda sums it up. Just maybe, a hint of an additive could provide a more complex profile - like a whiff of vanilla, for instance. Yet Kevin (Malcroys) is all about 100% Natural. Anyway, the body presented here is something to chace in future imperial-style beers to come !

21 August 2021. At Gents Bierfestival. Cheers to the Ghent beer crew! Hazy ochre, thin, foamy, white head. Aroma of ripe mango, tangerine, rambutan, peach, pepper, bread crust, lime. Taste has sweetish mango, rambutan & melon, bittersweet citrus peel & grapefruit, bit spicy over biscuity, doughty maltiness. Floral hoppy finish, bit peppery, spicy, yeasty too, lingering ripe tropical fruit & citrus peel. Medium body, creamy texture, soft carbonation. Interesting concoction.

21 August 2021. At Gents Bierfestival. Cheers to the Ghent beer crew! Hazy black, stable, frothy, beige head. Aroma of oak, rosemary, basil, black pepper, medicin, herbal mix, vague walnut. Taste has sweetish prune & fig over toasty & walnutty maltiness; bitter herbal middle with rosemary note, black tea too. Herbal hoppy finish, spicy, woody, some warming gin-like alcohol. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation. Lacks some citrus to balance it out but not bad.

Hazy West Coast IPA - sounds a bit oxymoronic, but then this Malcroys project is all about challenging boundaries and tastes, and all the better for it, we need this kind of approach a lot more in Belgium. Tasted at GBF, thanks to the brewer (Kevin Devos) himself for bringing this one to my attention. Snow white, moussy, stable head lacing in dots over a cloudy pale apricot blonde beer, even a tad milky looking in the end - nothing West Coast to see here so far... Beguiling bouquet of lime zest, green banana, lemon verbena, unripe mango and unripe mandarin, moist white pepper, lemon cookies or lemon cake. Cleanly 'green-fruity' onset, again unripe banana and mango, some apricot, some lime, fizzily carbonated with somewhat minerally effect, supple but sufficiently full body. Cracker- and dough-like, vaguely sweetish malt core, highly and brightly aromatized by a clever selection of hops, adding aspects of again green mango, mandarin, lemongrass, starfruit and perhaps a faint touch of lychee; the hops, however, also provide a mild end bitterness, paired with a refreshing citric tail - though the powerful grapefruity bitterness that typifies a West Coast IPA is something very different altogether. I get the idea of brewing a hazy IPA and adding a bit more bitterness to evoke West Coast associations, but this to me remains largely in New England territory, albeit indeed in a 'green', citrusy way, which makes it much more drinkable and refreshing than all those overly sweet 'fruit juice IPAs' I had too many of in recent years. In the 'inner circles' of Belgian beer aficionados Kevin Devos has already long proven himself as not only a very accomplished brewer from a technical point of view, but also, and perhaps much more importantly, a very bold and innovative brewer, displaying a creativity and willingness to explore which is downright amazing from time to time. This is not his most innovative beer, perhaps, but who cares: there are very few other brewers in Belgium capable of presenting a hazy IPA at this level of quality (and believe me, I tried many). Stunning.

Pours hazed, darker blonde. medium large to large white head. Scent is minthy, which is a powerfull scent, but still some hops show. Mild yeast and malts, but they're a bit overpowered. Taste is sharp, fairly bitter. Sharp, green mint, very aromatic and explosive. mild maltyness. hops still come trough (not as much in the aromatic side, more in the bitterness) . Decent body, fairly thin but correct for the beer it is. High carbo. I'm not loving this, but they did indeed make a mojito beer. It works, it's brewed well,... the aftertaste is a bit sweet, perhaps a bit yeasty ( estery)

Pours dark (black) , with a medium small, tanned head. Scent is intense vaniline, robust, sharp roast. Ashy notes, hints of red fruit. Taste is sharp, but to strong on the spirit side for me. Not boozy though, but the spirit's aroma's are very present, and overpower the base. Some oak ( loads of vaniline) Medium to medium thin body. medium low carbo.

Bottle sample during Gents Bierfestival '21 - shared with Tderoeck and Nathan.
Dorée sur léger trouble, col fin blanc.
Arôme est houblonné sur un bouquet 'dank' avec pas mal d'agrumes et de tropical dont un léger bouquet de baies vertes - léger sur le pin avec un petit côté poivré résineux en retrait.
Palais est sec accentué par cet effet de ddh, note fine épicée - fruits sur les agrumes, léger terreux en fin de bouche - effervescence est haute avec en fin de bouche un côté fin résineux et finement huileux.

Bottle sample during Gents Bierfestival '21 - shared with Tderoeck and Nathan.
Brune foncée, col fin blanc-cassé.
Arôme est fin malté, grillé et caramel, petites effluves boisées de cèdre en retrait - note de chocolat arrive en rétro-nasal. Le houblonné apporte des notes fines fruitées - agrumes.
Palais est malté, finement grillé, caramel, effervescence faible-moyenne, petite pointe épicée venant du cèdre et en fin de bouche une note fine houblonnée herbacée oscillant entre thym et romarin. Le côté black IPA reste un peu discret.

Very dark brown with no head. Aroma and flavour have a certain floral woody note. Also some bay leaf liquorice. I guess this comes from the cedar wood. It's only in the aftertaste that the roasty bitterness comes through.