One of the newest Enigma beers, tasted at Wieze Bierfestival. Snow white, moussy, lacing, stable head, clear golden robe with greenish hue. Aroma of orange peel, passion fruit, dried mango, green banana, pine resin, cereals, orchids, pink pepper. Clean, fruity onset, pineapple and melon with a dash of banana, smooth mouthfeel, very supple with cereally malt sweetish body. Aromatically hoppy finish, floral, citrusy and a tad piney, adding mild but effective bitterness. Modest in not pretending to be an IPA - though to me this would qualify, at least as a ’Belgian IPA’, and a good one at that.

New quadrupel by this diligent new beer company. Moussy, bubbly, pale beige-ish off-white head, translucent bronze robe with ruby red hue - but far from ’black’ as the name would suggest. Aroma of raisins, banana, caramel, cloves, melting brown sugar, ruby port, apple sauce, hazelnuts, soggy brown bread, plum brandy. Estery onset, plum and banana sweetness reinforced by residual dark sugars, hints of peach, date and apple too, slight underlying sourishness, fluffy and full body, caramelly and bready, with the brown sugar sweetness on top, toasty touch in the finish, herbal hop bitterish note, clove-like phenols and a glow of warming, port-like alcohol. Apparently inspired by the blue Chimay and I get that idea, which is not badly executed here; I do have something agains the name, though, as ’Black Fuel’ in the contemporary beer world suggests a heavy stout or porter rather than a quad.

Bottle @ DØE Tasting. Pours hazy dark brown with a tan head. Aroma of malt, belgain yeast, candy sugar, sweet fruit, alcohol. Flavor is sweet, malt, yeasty, candy sugar, fruit, light alcohol. Medium body, average carbonation, sweet finish with warming alcohol. 150317

Bottle @ DØE meeting courtesy of Thomas. Hazy brown with a beige head. Aroma is sweet, malty, caramel, dark sugar and yeasty. Flavor is very sweet and moderate bitter. Dry and moderate bitter finish with warming alcohol. 150317

From tap. Pours hazy orange with a small white head. Aroma is citrusy fruity. Sweet malty, caramelish. Toasted. Overripe fruity. Slight citrusy too. Medium dry and malt dense finish.

Dark blond with lasting head. Aroma and flavour are fairly sweet. The alcohol adds a certain dryness. Nice yeasty aftertaste.

The second of these new Enigma beers, with a name referring to Ragnarok, the Norse mythology equivalent of the Apocalypse (yet including a rebirth of the world afterwards), but with the -ck equally referring to rock, or rather: metal music. Belgian session ale with oatmeal and hopped with Citra and Mosaic, bottle from Van Eetvelde; comes from a steini bottle contrary to their first beer (Tamera) and has apparently been brewed at Gulden Spoor rather than Boelens. Medium thick, regularly shaped, off-white, quite dense head, slowly showing gaps in the middle but clinging tightly to the glass in the form of a rim of ’membranous’ lacing; initially very lightly hazy, warm orange blonde colour with ochre-ish hue and visible strings of fizz piercing fiercely through the haze; more deeply orange and equally cloudy with sediment added, but still looking nice. Aroma of stewed pear, orange peel and very faint orange juice, moist white pepper, light banana (but not descending into bubblegum), cooked turnip, sandwiches, soggy breakfast cereals, pineapple, vague hints of old cheese, sweetclover, green olive, potato soup and minerals. Very crisp onset but this is mainly due to strong overcarbonation, with numbing, minerally and souring effect, overpowering an initial mash of gooseberry, pear, fresh gherkin and courgette impressions, sourish with very light umami accents and only the slightest hint at banana sweetness - which turns out to be much less pronounced than I had expected upon reading "fruity Belgian yeast" on the label. Cereally and grainy middle, with a smoothness indeed reminiscent of oats, but this aspect is again almost annihilated by the overcarbonation; softer bready side too. Some fruitiness lingers on top, as well as hints of spiciness, leading to a finish of increasing breadiness due to the yeast (especially with sediment) and well-placed, earthy, spicy, somewhat resinous and floral hop bitterness, which releases some faint yet subtly elegant citrus notes retronasally. This was bottled in November last year so between three and four months old (congratulations to Enigma for mentioning this, by the way), so I guess the delicate Citra is already past its prime - or wasn’t used all too generously in the first place... I’ll go for the first possibility, seeing other ratings of this beer in younger condition below. I did like that Tamera better actually, but seen by itself, this beer is certainly enjoyable, without any flaws or off-flavours, adorning the classic 20th-century Belgian blonde with carefully dosed ’new’ craft beer influences. Too carefully as far as I’m concerned: why not turn this into a full-fledged ’international’ IPA instead of still trying to cling to the old Belgian blonde cliché? Revenue is probably one reason, but ignorance could be another. Whatever: certainly among the better Belgian blondes I had in quite a long time, so recommended as an easygoing, technically flawless and somewhat idiosyncratic quencher.

Pours rather unclear, warm amber. Good white head. Smell is very weak, mild bitterness. Taste is sharp, rather intensly bitter, some lemon-zest as well. easy drinker. Not all so sure why they’d call this a saison. Seems more like what these days is called ’Belgian IPA’ ( I still think of those beers more as a Belgian ale ) IF they used saison yeast, which I assume they did? it barely shows in the taste. A decent beer though, but just like ragnarock not a great memorable one. I do want to note though that both beers had great artwork, this is something I really miss in the Belgian beer-scene, and I’m happy they ( as well as a minority of others) are changeing that. Hopefully, a real sexy beer will folow soon !

Bottle from Pede, Sint-Lievens-Houtem. Blond colour, white foam. Medium carbonation. Sweet nose of caramel, bread with fruity citrussy hoppy notes. Bitter finish.