6.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle from LDW, Eke. hazy orange colour, creamy white foam. Sweet malty, citrussy, oats. Taste is sweet, fruity, light bitterness. Ok.

6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

F: big, white, almost average retention. C: blonde, hazy. A: malt, hint of honey, green hops, grassy, lemon, hint of raspberries, hint of yeast. T: malt, touch of honey, grassy, floral, mineral salty tones, green apples, medium body, medium carbonation, decent bitterness on the palate, light refreshing beer, good one, 33cl bottle from Spar supermarket near the Manuscript pub :) in Oostende.

8

Bij de barbier

7.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Fles 33cc @ Café-restaurant Bolks Heike. Mooi donker roodbruin bier met stevige schuimkraag. Smaak is bitter hoppig en krachtig met iets van fruit, pruimen, kers en abrikoos. Erg goed.

6.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle from LDW, Eke. Hazy yellow colour, white foam. Medium carbonation. Nose of citrus, banana, some coriander. Refreshing, light tart. Ok tripel.

6.2

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Flesje gekregen van Benzai. Goudgeel helder bier. Stevig schuimend bij inschenken. Schuim blijft redelijk staan. Aroma is hoppig en fruitig. Smaak is citrusachtig en kruidig. Nasmaak is bitter.

7.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Fles gedeeld door Benzai, het is een heerlijk blond bier met een medium schuimkraag. Het heeft een frisse citrus smaak. Een lekker bier voor een zomerse dag.

6.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

The ’ordinary’ IPA made for De Bieradviseur, bottle from the Prik & Tik in Zele; curious about this one, as I had the black version before and really enjoyed it. Thick, frothy, regular, egg-white, very moussy, lacing head over a hazy peach blonde beer with warm orange tinge. Aroma of dried orange flesh, banana bread and even light bubblegum, ripe melon, overripe mango, cake dough, bitter honey, canned apricot, pink pepper, strawberry jam, fresh toast, soap, old ginger powder, straw, peach, old paper, Madeleine biscuits, raw cauliflower. Spritzy onset, very minerally due to strong (over-)carbonation, souring and numbing a bit, but not entirely blocking a play of sweetish banana, peach and red apple on the one hand and sourish redcurrant, unripe kiwi and gooseberry on the other hand, subdued esters and in that sense starting off quite ’Belgian’, supple and lean mouthfeel coarsened by the strong carbo. Cereally and very lightly caramelly middle, bit soapy as well, certainly not all barley (see label too: "bevat gerstemout", which often says enough), while the fruity esters go along, banana remaining fairly at bay. Finish brings a relieving, spicy, notably floral and mildly citrusy, only lightly aromatic hop bitterness, but it seems to remain rather superficial in comparison with the legions of Anglo-Saxon IPAs it tries to imitate - resulting in that soapiness and even traces of the banana ester to pass through quite undisturbed. Ends with a certain amount of spicy hoppiness, but it’s the malt sweetness and some yeasty aspects that last. Clearly the intentions were good here, but as usual in this country, they failed to make a full-fledged ’new’ (i.e. internationally oriented) IPA: though a very decent beer by itself, breathing technical perfection like many other brews coming from Anders these days, the concept lacks in audacity and expressive hoppiness. This is way too soapy and estery for an IPA of international standard; at best, this is to be seen as a ’Belgian IPA’, i.e. a compromise between classic (blonde) Belgian ale styles and ’real’ IPA - in other words, not an IPA at all, until ’Belgian IPA’ is recognized as a separate style here. If that were the case, this would be a very good and technically perfect example of it. As an IPA in the general, international sense: too soapy, too Belgian and not (aromatically) hoppy enough for me. In conclusion: basically just a Belgian blonde ale with a forwarded hop profile, as there are so many these days, but technically so well executed that it can serve as an example of this hybrid ’style’.

5.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

Light brown colour with thin head. Aroma has some caramelised red fruits. Bitter and sweet with a background of candy sugar. There’s a strange, dry dusty off taste in this beer.