Totem

Microbrewery in Evergem, East Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪

Established in 2015

Contact
Reibroekstraat 101, Evergem, 9940, Belgium
Description
At Totem, we try to brew beers very much in the same way most Belgians wouldn't.

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7.1/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 6.5
No head, virtually black beer. Roast, meatroast, chocolate. some fusels. Smoke and benzene. Banana (indeed unmistakable), chocolate (idd). Sweet roast notes. Very full bodied and viscous, low carbonation. For the sweet tooths, but it's just not my thing.
Tried from Can on 22 Aug 2021 at 08:55

6.6/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 5.5 Flavor 7 Texture 7 Overall 6.5
Fluffy, light yellow head over fully hazy yellow beer. Again this sulphury, almost rotting nose, drainwater. Fruity hops, yellow fruit. Bitterish, and thankfully, the decaying fruitaroma does not repeat retronasal, but the sulphur remains present. Yellow & green fruit and hop notes. Light body but not lean. Good carbonation, slick. Nose is a pity, rest is quite OK!
Tried from Can on 22 Aug 2021 at 08:35

7.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7.5 Texture 7 Overall 7.5
Average of three separate ratings; bottle, nitro and regular draft. Funny to see that all three totaling scores were almost the same. Regular draft seemed to smell better, nitro tasted better, or... it was just circumstances of course. :p Bottled version was practically the same as the drafts.

25/XI/22 - 33cl can @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, BB: I/2025 (2022-xxx)
Ap: 6, Ar: 8, Fl: 7, Txt: 6, O: 7, Total: 7.0

Clear amber beer, small creamy beige head, little stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: nice, lots of vanilla, sugary impression, funky, ripe banana, sourish impression as well? MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: sourish, funky, bitter, dry, spicy, yeast, some banana. Aftertaste: caramel, bitter, malty, banana, a bit hoppy, earthy, dry, some tannins, decent.

15/IX/21 - on tap @ DOK Brewing Company (Gent), BB: n/a (2021-xxx)
Ap: 6, Ar: 8, Fl: 7, Txt: 6, O: 7.5, Total: 7.1

Clear deep amber beer, practically no head. Aroma: sweet, lots of caramel, overripe banana, a bit of vanilla, more banana peel, more caramel, rather oxidized. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: lots and lots of alcohol up front, sweet impression and then a very harsh bitterness punching you in the mouth, very oxidized as well. Aftertaste: bitter notes, lots of caramel, some jam, dry, a bit of vanilla. Not bad, but was expecting to taste more barrel in this one…

21/VIII/21 - on nitro tap @ Gents Bierfestival (Gent), BB: n/a (2021-946)
Ap: 6, Ar: 6, Fl: 8, Txt: 8, O: 7.5, Total: 7.1/10

Pretty cloudy beige bond beer, big creamy beige head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: weird, oxidized, fruity, some dead yeast. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bit sweet, some cookies, caramel notes, bit sugary, hoppy, gentle roast, bit resinous, weird. Aftertaste: alcohol, yeasty, bit sugary, coconut, bit fruity, good stuff!
Tried from Draft on 21 Aug 2021 at 17:40

7.1/10 Appearance 4 Aroma 8 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
4 July 2021. At Dok Brewing Festival. Shared with the lovely Anke! Cloudy dark brown, no head. Aroma of candied banana, macaroons, coco flakes, date, 'pralines', pistachio, mocha, chocolate sauce. Taste has very sweet banana candy, date & fig with a sourish undertone, thick chocolate sauce-like maltiness with a hint of toffee & coconut. Very slightly spicy too. Herbal hoppy finish, lingering banana candy, fruit-liqueur pralines and boozy banana liqueur alcohol ('Boswandeling'). Full body, oily texture, soft carbonation. Quite heavy to drink and just too much on the sweet side. Well done again by Totem but I prefer their other flavoured Stouts.
Tried from Can on 16 Aug 2021 at 11:31

7.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 8
Totem’s latest creation, a second DIPA but to a completely different recipe than the first (and I am not even including Totem’s ‘first period’ as a gypsy brewer here). Thanks to the brewer himself for the can, enjoyed in his company at Dok’s premises in Ghent. Snow white, medium thick, small-bubbled, slowly opening head on a cloudy apricot blonde beer, turning a bit milky in the end – the looks of a NEDIPA for sure. Aroma follows suit: sweet red onions, unripe pineapple, orange juice, ripe melon, lychee, wet dough, apple peel, touch of stale armpit sweat dankness. Sweet and fruity onset, pineapple, rambutan, guava, melon – in a slick and oily, softly carbonated environment; lovely malt sweet core, sugar bread-like with drier cereally edges, carrying something minerally along the sides as well before it plunges into this mixture of herbal, grassy and tropical hops, adding retronasal impressions of pomelo, papaya, lemongrass, lemonbalm and dank overripe onion. A softish bitterness is deposited on the tongue’s root, making everything very quenching, and the alcohol, though considerable, remains almost perfectly hidden. Lovely citrusy impressions remain, making this perhaps even more rewarding than the first Totem DIPA – though I admit that comparing them is tempting more than justified; this is a perfectly focused, sophisticatedly executed, balanced DIPA compromising on different IPA traditions at the same time, as is so often the case in ‘international IPA’ these days.
Tried from Can on 12 Aug 2021 at 14:41

7.4/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7.5 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7
Bit fluffy cream-brown head; virtually black beer. Roasted, nutty nose, peanuts, sweet roast, Trockener Schinken dried Ardennes' ham, and smoked trout. Taste is - sorry, this is liquefied smoked trout, fat fishmeat included. Special for sure! Stearine/candlewax, and again peanuts. Ridiculously full-bodied, fatty, sleazy feel, soft carbonation. Searching for the limits again, Klaas? Thanks to Stef!
Tried from Can on 01 Aug 2021 at 08:21

8/10
Tried from Can on 25 Jul 2021 at 18:59

6.6/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 6.5
4/VII/21 - sample on tap @ DOK bierfestival (Ghent), BB: n/a (2021-585) Thanks to the GBV-crew for sharing today’s beers!

Cloudy orange blond beer, small creamy irregular off-white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: sweet and sugary, alcohol, lemony, lime. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: very alcoholic, a bit fruity, some phenols, more alcohol, sweet, heavy, some vanilla. Aftertaste: weird, spicy, very alcoholic, phenols, soapy bitterness, more alcohol. Too heavy this one, don’t like it so much.
Tried from Draft at Dok Brewing Company on 04 Jul 2021 at 12:45

7.6/10 Appearance 4 Aroma 8 Flavor 9 Texture 6 Overall 8.5
4/VII/21 - sample on tap @ DOK bierfestival (Ghent), BB: n/a (2021-584) Thanks to the GBV-crew for sharing today’s beers!

Cloudy dark brown beer, no head. Aroma: lots of ripe banana, banana cream chocolate filling, banana flavoured candy, good roast, alcohol, funky, coffee. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: lots and lots of chocolate, banana cream, nice bitter roast. Aftertaste: some vanilla, banana cream, sweet touch, bit sourish, more chocolate, bitter roast, cocoa powder. Very nice and original brew, like it!
Tried from Draft at Dok Brewing Company on 04 Jul 2021 at 12:15

7.5/10
Tried from Can from Bierhalle Deconinck on 04 Jul 2021 at 11:16