Pear nose. Clear amber, medium head. Peach and pear. Grass finish. medium body, easy carbonation.

Dark gold pour. Thick foam around the rim. Dotted lace. Lemongrass with notes of salt and pepper. Lemon and vegetable finish. Easy body and medium carbonation.

Labeled as 02 Blanche: Lemongrass and coriander nose. Cloudy amber, medium head. Lemongrass. Cabbage finish. Medium body, easy carbonation.

Bertinchamps Triple aged on Belgian whisky barrels, thanks to Craftmember for sharing at Gist in Brussels. Snow white, moussey, open, loosely knit, lightly lacing head over a clear deep golden blonde robe with peachy tinge. Aroma of canned pineapple, pear syrup, honey wafers, pancakes, whisky indeed but in a very phenolic way – with glue- and varnish-like solvents following suit, marmalade, rosemary. Very sweet onset, canned pineapple, cooked pear and ripe banana, softishly carbonated with smooth, oily to glueish body; brioche-bready core under a heap of residual, honeyish sugars, further on adding an underlying rooty hop bitterness and then lots of warming whisky-like booze paired with again those strong glue- and nail polish-like solvents retronasally. Moves in all directions except the good one… Way too solventy, boozy and sweet for me, lacking refinement and restraint.

Fles 33cl thuis. Vrij zoet, fruitig, citrus, carameltonen, maltig, abrikoos, yeasty. (28-4-2024).

33cl bottle from FreshMed supermarket Etterbeek, Brussels.
F: big, white, long lasting.
C: pale gold, hazy.
A: citrus, coriander, biscuits, bit herbal.
T: medium malty base, banana, pears, honey, peach, coriander, bit spicy, decent bitterness, medium carbonation, ok for the style, enjoyed. --- Beer merged from original tick of Bertinchamps 05 IPA on 07 Mar 2024 at 19:06 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5. Original review text: 33cl bottle from FreshMed supermarket Etterbeek, Brussels. F: big, white, long lasting. C: pale gold, hazy. A: citrus, coriander, biscuits, bit herbal. T: medium malty base, banana, pears, honey, peach, coriander, bit spicy, decent bitterness, medium carbonation, ok for the style, enjoyed.

Bottle shared on the Eurostar back from Brussels for Rich's 50th weekend. A mostly clear brushed gold coloured pour with a fine off white head. Aroma is semi sweet, sweaty grains, apple sauxe, damp hay, some alcohol. Flavour is composed of semi sweet, damp hay, Appley esters, custard, grass. Palate is semi sweet, Warming alcohol, headache inducing alcohol, airy carbonation. High boost. Rough round the edges.

Bottle on the 1659 Bruxelles-London Eurostar, 11/02/24. Golden blonde topped with a lasting white crown. Nose is yeast esters, straw, herb, grains, hedgerow, light white peppery spice. Taste comprises grass, yeast esters, stewed fruits, grains, lemon rind, straw, leafy notes and a kiss of booze. Medium bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close. Fine for the style.

Thuis uit een 50cl fles met stijlvol etiket. Licht troebel, gouden kleur. Zacht, fris aroma. Smaak goed, ook fris, het abv haal je er niet uit, lijkt minder zwaar. Wat citrus. Prima, maar niet de beste triple.

The IPA in the generally decent Bertinchamps brand, one of the newcomers it seems, but unfortunately the label does not say much more than "bitter blonde beer with citrus aromas" and fails to even mention the hop varieties used, a common practice in IPAs around the world - once again proving how much Belgium lags behind in the great IPA wave of postmodern craft brewing. Irregularly edged, shred-lacing, off-white, thick and frothy, slowly receding head on a misty warm golden beer with pale apricot tinge. Bit odd aroma of spiced biscuits, Thai yellow chicken curry, coriander powder, black radish, honey, cake dough, overripe gherkins, pumice, cooked seitan, ripe white peaches, fenugreek, overripe shallot, rainwater, sushi rice somewhere, wood bluegrass, moss, iron, old abbey cheese rind. Crisp onset due to spritzy, even stingy carbonation more than inherent crispness in flavour, notes of peach, green pear and unripe apricot, generally dry with only very restrained sweetness; rounded, supple bread-crusty malt body with grainy edges, under a herbal and 'dark-grassy', bit leafy hoppiness, with side effects of rainwater and iron (ferrous spring water) lurking underneath. Coriander seed seems to mix in, providing a dull spiciness and soapiness that really has no business here - but it could be phenolic. The hops provide retronasal aromas of damp tree leaves, old onions, fenugreek, 'diesel' and armpit sweat but little of the bright citrusiness that was promised; they do act out a softly lingering floral bitterness, but softer than is averagely the case in Belgian IPAs, even fading out way too soon for what was intended, leaving behind a meaningless trail of malts and minerals from the carbonation. If a classic (read: West Coast) IPA was intended, then not only hop bitterness is lacking, but also citrusiness and pepperiness in aroma; this is altogether too soft, too herbal and too yeasty, the usual flaws when traditionally Belgian-oriented breweries tackle anything IPA-like, ending up in between a classic Belgian ale and a vague and too generic concept of IPA - the category we happily (and euphemistically!) refer to as 'Belgian IPA'. In that category of usually unintentionally yeasty beers, this is not the worst, but even then it could have done with a bit more powerful hop bitterness. Hoppy Belgian blonde rather than anything 'truly' IPA-like, but drinkable...