Draft, thanks Klaas. Orangée sur un léger voile, col blanc assez crémeux et tenace. Arôme au nez fruité apportant la touche de houblons nobles, signature de Totem, et un rétro levure allemande offrant de fines effluves d’ester pour un léger côté banane. Palais garde une certaine approche belge niveau levure quoique virant vers l’allemand. Accompagnement fruité houblonné assez plaisant, pointe ester et houblonné herbacé sur la fin. Le tout est assez classique et le côté houblonné apporte quant à lui sa part de changement.

Draft, thanks Klaas. Brune avec un col épais café au lait. Arôme au nez malté, houblonné assez vert aux effluves marquées de Cascade et un apport frais, vert et herbacé rappelant le thé Maccha. En rétro-nasal, je note un peu de ce côté levure belge, rétro malté alternant sur caramel et léger chocolaté. Palais est malté, pointe de chocolat, grillé sur fini houblonné de Cascade apportant une sécheresse perdurant, fin de bouche donne encore cette impression de thé vert plus l’occasionnel profil fruité agrumes de Cascade. Retrouve un caractère plutôt belge dans l’approche surtout au niveau de la base des grains.

Draft, thanks Klaas. Dorée présentant un léger voile orange, col épais jaunâtre persistant. Arôme au nez fruité puissant tirant sur de belles effluves tropicales alternant entre mangue et un côté agrumes de pamplemousse, rétro fin malté + une certaine base levure apportant le caractère plus vivant. Palais est ’juicy’, tropical oscillant vers mangue avec un caractère grains assez marqué, du haut de ses 2.9% elle reste superbement légère et complexe. Pointe d’épice et note herbacée.

GUSHER ALERT! Bottle from Geers.Beer gushed more than half a meter out of the bottle. Just 1 cm left in the bottle. Lots of hop particles in the beer, maybe that’s the reason? (cf. Maeght van Gottem with hop bell). Taste is tropical fruits, bitter hoppy finish. Easy drinkable and refreshing. A pity there was only 3 cl to drink.

Buckwheat ale with thick, dense, moussy, egg-white head, hazy ochre blonde robe. Aroma of pineapple, pear, green banana, honey, strawberry, white pepper, light toast, soggy grains. Sweetish, estery onset, hints of banana, pineapple and peach with some sourish graininess underneath, smooth and soft middle, ’deep’ sourish wheat, lightly bready barley, sweetness continuing with a slightly honeyish effect to it, yeasty finish with mild, peppery, softly bittering hoppiness.

Draught at GBF, cheers Klaas! Thick, egg-white, dense, lacing head over a cloudy peach blonde beer. Delicate New World hops aroma of lime blossom, grapefruit flesh, moldy orange peel, mango, unripe pineapple, green banana, white bread and baker’s yeast notes underneath. Vivid fruitiness in the mouth, raw pineapple, green banana and some apricot notes, bit fizzy, lightly oily mouthfeel, supple middle with a caramelly touch leading to a fragrantly aromatic hop finish, notably citrusy with hints of grapefruit and tangerine, spicy touch but not harshly bittering, very refreshing. Delicate thirst quencher, packed with flavor and not even feeling too thin for such a low ABV beer - I wish there were hundreds of different session IPAs like this in Belgium, for functional reasons (driving!) alone.

Hoppy Weissbier, a concept first launched by Schneider years ago, made especially for the Gents Bierfestival 2016, a collab of Hedonis and Totem, the two young pioneers of the new Gent beer elan as far as I’m concerned. Cheers to Klaas for this one. Very thick, rocky, cobweb-lacing, beaten egg-like head, hazy ochre blonde robe. Aroma of ripe banana, clove-like phenols, mandarin, lime peel, soap, raw pineapple. Fruity onset, banana as can be expected from the style but adorned with hints of peach, pineapple and pear, wheaty, bit soapy middle, caramelly malt touch, citrusy finish, very refreshing with even dried mango-like hints along with spicy phenols, aromatic but only softly bittering. This is what it says: a Hefeweizen with an above average, aromatic hop character - original addition to the Belgian beer landscape. I enjoyed this a lot and it is in any case ’vree wijs’, to put it in the Ghent dialect, that Totem and Hedonis have connected to create a beer together.

One of the newer Totems, at GBF. Cobweb-lacing, pale beige, moussy head, cloudy very dark bronze colour, not completely black. Aroma of dried grapefruit peel, green peppercorns, coffee grounds, walnut, dried fig, cloves. Subdued dried fruit sweetishness in the onset with an umami edge (dried mushroom), medium carbo, supple body; very nutty middle, quickly becoming bitterly toasted, a bitterness further accentuated by peppery and dried citrus peel-like, long, resinous, deeply bittering hoppiness. Could do with a more aromatic hop character - again one of these new ’Euro BIPAs’ I guess, but I welcome every attempt at this style made in Belgium.

Hazy blond with thin head. Very full flavoured. Really fresh and hoppy. Very easy to drink.