Black. Smoke, rum, vanilla, coffee, earthy, dead leaves. Bit thin. Decent.

Straight from wooden barrel @ Billie's Craft Beer Fest 2022.
Noire, huileux doré au verre.
Arôme sur un bouquet malté, caramel pâle, chocolat, vanille avec une sensation de sucre de canne fermenté.
Palais est faible en effervescence, petite douceur résiduelle avec un retour adouci de vanille/Bourbon - finit sur des pointes de fruits noirs - prunes.

IPA made for the brewers’ bar of this year’s Ghent Beer Fest, brewed in the kettles of Malcroys apparently (near Antwerp) but with the aid of Totem (near Ghent) – so effectively a collab of two of Belgium’s most progressive, innovative and cutting edge microbrewers and two brewers I have been admiring for years now. Egg-white, large-bubbled, irregularly edged, lacing, slowly opening head on a cloudy apricot blonde robe with yolk-yellow glow – the NEIPA look. Aroma of green kiwi, rambutan, margarine, whipped cream, orange juice, guava, melting butter, dank armpit sweat note, green mango, cheese spread – the diary effects that kept returning, probably ascribable to diacetyl because of the sheer youth of this beer when I tasted it (but I could not be bothered – as long as it is not overly dominant, I can tolerate a bit of diacetyl, makes me think of those lovely English cask ales). Very fruity onset, juicy starfruit and kiwi with a subtle mango touch, hint of ripe apricot too, quite sharpish in carbonation for a hazy IPA; creamy, slick, quite ‘full’ body, doughy and cereally malts under aromatic starfruit, lime zest, lychee and guava impressions from the hops, which also deposit a brief peppery bitterness in the end. The whole remains soft and fruity, with some lingering dankness. Brimming with radiant hoppiness in the New World-inspired sense, juicy and citrusy with lovely tropical notes, but never becoming too sultry or sweet so maintaining high drinkability; I have to admit that I had better IPAs from both Totem and Malcroys individually, but it is a good thing that these like-minded brewers get along well and a collab like this is not to be missed, the diacetyl note will even have gone completely by now (if this beer is still available today in the first place).

9/VI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: 8/V/23, batch: SBB005 (2022-679)

Dark pitch black beer, small creamy beige head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: very intense, lots of alcohol, whisky, very sharp smell. MF: soft to no carbon, medium body. Taste: malty start, alcohol, some caramel ,vanilla, coffee, dark chocolate, a bit watery, cookies. Aftertaste: some caramel, a little bitter, good roast, malty, grains.

9/VI/22 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a (2022-677)

Clear dark brown beer, creamy dense beige head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: very intense, pretty malty, grains, gentle roast, some dark coffee, alcohol. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice, good roast, coffee, wood notes, very bitter, more roast, sourish touch. Aftertaste: more roast, alcohol, malty, soapy, a bit soapy, bitter, spicy, a bit sweet, some caramel, more soapy notes.

Pours a dark, very hazed, creamy lookin' blonde with a medium, rather creamy head. Scent is full, juicy, citrus, bit herbal almost. Floral, fairly intense, overall. Lovely ! Taste is full, surprisingly bitter. Creamy maltbase, unique 'green' hoparoma, not nearly as citric as expected from the scent, but remains very aromatic nevetheless. Almost like a kind of spice, this hoparoma is very hard to describe and the first of it's kind I personally encountered. Coconut comes to mind as well, as that's a 'creamy aroma' like this hop has, but it's definately not coconut specifically.. Unique, very enjoyable IPA that is best tried to understand !

Pours a hazy, darker orange/amber. Medium small white head. Scent is full, fresh, recognizable Cryo Pop blend, Tropical, whiff of stonefruit. Taste is surprisingly bitter, quite harsh green hops still (this beer is about 2 weeks old) . no hopburn, but truly a bit harsh nevertheless. Nice hoppy aroma ( again, cryo pop for the biggest part to me) . Body is chewy - not thick, but certainly not wattery. it goes towards what I usually call 'powdery'. Quite dank. Nice IPA, but the first version of Hops Or Die was more unique and balanced to me.