Bottle from Geers. Pours clear golden with a thin, unstable, frothy, white head. Aroma of mandarin peel, apple, hard pear, wheat, flowery soap, breadcrust. Taste has sweet unripe apple, pear & mandarin against a bready-yeasty backbone with a rather strong wheaty undercurrent, quite soapy by result, a tad bitter spicy & grainy too. Dry, earthy hoppy finish, more unripe fruit, yeast & soap, all in all very 'minerally'. Medium body, slick texture, lively carbonation. Too much carbonation, yeast & wheat bury the noble hops, alas.

Bottle from a gift basket - many thanks! Pours hazy ochre with a lasting, thin, white head. Aroma of orange zest, freshly cut apple, sourdough, soap, unripe banana, straw, pepper. Taste has sweetish apple & banana, sour touches of wheat, lemon & soap with a bitter spicy backbone; spices & spelt lend a 'rough' edge to the earthy hoppy finish; yeasty-bready malty profile lingers with clove & unripe fruit. Medium body, oily texture, fizzy carbonation. Not entirely my thing but it's cleverly made.

Low alcohol blonde (a sunny session IPA as the brewer calls it) hopped with Centennial, Mandarina Bavaria and Equinox and containing oats and wheat next to barley in different forms. Very thick and foamy, snow white, papery lacing, frothy head, hazy yellow-golden robe with apricot tinge, lively sparkling. Aroma of green pear, unripe banana, dried camomile, dry hay, white bread, old lemon zest, soap, apricot, gypsum, hint of burnt rubber. Crisp onset, very minerally and strongly carbonated, restrained fruitiness of green banana, hard pear and unripe apricot, very subdued in sweetness but with a sourish edge from the wheat, which also provides a notable soapiness; cereally and white-bready middle, softened by the oats but the soapiness of the wheat dominates, feeling altogether 'full' for only 3.1% ABV. Grassy and floral, mildly peppery hop bitterness in the finish, adding 'body' to the final stage as well as some retronasal aromas of dried field flowers and old citrus peel, but hardly any of the luscious fruitiness I was hoping for when I read 'Mandarina Bavaria' or 'Equinox'... Instead, a rather annoying gypsum-like minerality and strong wheaty soapiness linger. More a 'postmodern hop-forward session Belgian blonde' than a true ISA, a bit like L'Arogante Session, but much more 'wheated' than that one; fits in this recent string of low ABV Belgian beers, a trend clearly inspired by the global popularity of ISA in the craft beer world. In that segment, certainly not the worst one, but I maintain that more New World hop aromatics and less wheat soapiness would greatly improve this one - and, perhaps, turn it into a true session IPA.

Bottle. Golden, almost clear, snow-white and lush foam. Aroma: malt, light spice, slightly fruity, grassy, yeast. Taste: malt, grassy, a little lemon, apple seeds, mild bitterness, light.

Beer commissioned by a drinks store and a beer club, brewed by a gypsy brewer in the kettles of an actual brewery - a typical Belgian construction, it seems... Thanks to tderoeck. Thick and foamy, snow white, membrane-lacing, regularly shaped, stable head on a misty deep golden beer with peachy hue, turning all 'dirty', dark greyish brown and muddy when the sediment is added. Aroma of dried apricot, old bread, fresh parsnip, old cardboard and some 'rusty' oxidation, dried field flowers, straw, banana peel, cloves, old carrots. Crisp, fruity onset still, with hints of apple peel, some banana and unripe peach, restrainedly sweetish with light sourish edge, well-carbonated with a smooth, soft mouthfeel. Slick bread crumb-like and cereally malt body, noticeably oxidized ('rusty') in the end, with some spicy phenolic notes (clove) and ending with a confident, long and leafy, lingering hop bitterness. Well-balanced, sufficiently hop bittered quencher, rather predictable and very commonly 'Belgian' but decent enough; the sample I got, was however clearly past its prime and oxidized, a factor I cannot but take into account in my rating here. Will certainly revisit fresh when given the chance.

2 February 2020. At Brugs Bierfestival. Cheers to Anke & Pieter! Hazy black, very thin, frothy, beige head. Aroma is pure 'acetaldehytis' (coining this term on the spot), just lots of green apple; subtler hints of prune, raisin, vague wet coffee bean, cream, chocolate. Taste has sweetish-sour prune, raisin, fig with green apple returning retronasally; soft chocolatey maltiness under spicy & herbal accents, feeling a bit out of place. Dryish malty finish, more green apple & chocolate, soft herbal hops & warming alcohol, balancing between whisky & calvados. Medium boy, oily texture, soft carbonation. Probably way too young, making the acetaldehyde too overpowering for me. But: I don't doubt Hedonis' technical competence, so I must find a bottle sometime and let it age for a while.

12/III/20 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 19/VII/20 (2020-260)

Clear orange beer, big creamy yellowish head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: very malty, grains, slightly fruity, cow fodder, some almonds, bit oxidized. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: very malty start, pretty bitter, hoppy, grassy, not bad. Aftertaste: little metallic, some grapefruit, cow fodder, bitter and dry, nice but a bit too old. Weird, I thought I had already reviewed this one month ago.

Imported from untappd on 02-05-2020