Medium to good, dense, foxy cream coloured head, irregular, fed by finely carbonated clear amber beer; end of bottle solid yeast. Roasted caramel, heated raspberries, also the leaves of raspberry bushes, hot cherry coulis, toasted malts. More caramel in the mouth, less specific fruit. Some leafy notes, sweets. Finish is a bit lean. Light to medium bodied, medium to good carbonation, yeastslick. Nose is remarkable, as no fruit is actually added. The rest is maybe a tad to plain. Thanks to Stef!

16/IV/20 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 4/IV/21, B027T18APR19 (2020-338)

Clear orange beer, huge creamy to fizzy white head, unstable, dissipates eventually, little adhesive. Aroma: pretty oxidized, honey, orange peel, sweet impression, fruity touch, some caramel malts. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice bitterness, dry, bit spicy, hint of citrus, slightly malty, fruity, some pears. Aftertaste: good bitterness, bit herbal, dry, more bitterness, some banana peel, bit yeasty.

7/IV/20 - 33cl bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck (Vichte), shared @ home, BB: 17/X/21, bottled/produced: 18/X/19 (2020-309)

Little hazy reddish brown beer, big creamy irregular light beige head, pretty stable, bit adhesive, leaving some lacing in the glass. Aroma: very malty, caramel, sweet and sugary impression, some ripe banana. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: very malty, grains, bit watery, soft bitterness, caramel, soft roast, pretty dry. Aftertaste: more roast, bit sourish, some coffee, very dry and bitter finish. Ok beer, but where’s that citra? Definitely not blasting, probably already way too old at less than 6 months...

Bottled 330ml (Beergium, bottled 10/2019)
Dark red-brown colour, medium-sized beige head and lace. Perfumic pine, caramalt aroma. Medium-bodied, very fizzy. Caramalt, yeast, some pine, sweet tropical fruits in the flavour. Quite sweet DIPA with empty finish.

11th January 2020
Light haze on this deep amber beer, big pale tan head. Smooth palate, slightly thin and dry, decent fine carbonation. Soft malts, some toffee caramel. Quite a hop spice bite with dark orange marmalade. Trace of something tropical. Bitterish spicy finish. An Impy red ale if ever I have tasted one. But hey ho, Ratebeer has its head up its arse with Holly styles. Quite. fierce beer.

hazy reddish brown colour, large, creamy, long lasting beige-ish head; aroma of marmalade, pine resiny, biscuity, slight earthy-vinous and alcoholic notes; taste of toasted, syrupy, resinous bittery, slight biscuity and spicy alcoholic notes; not bad at all, though I can't feel too much citra in it

One of the newest Tartaruga beers, a 'double red IPA' hopped with not just Citra, but Columbus and Simcoe as well. Medium thick, mousy, irregularly edged, pale yellowish ecru head slowly showing gaps but generally stable, initially clear copper red robe with mahogany tinge - the deepest, purest copper colour I've seen in beer in a long time. Aroma of pink grapefruit juice, orange peel, soggy biscuit, pecan nuts, sweet red onions, cognac, stewed red apple, caramel, peanut oil, chewing gum and indeed banana, fig liqueur, apricots soaked in 'jenever', toasted almond. Sweet onset hinting at red apple, peach and banana, touch persimmon, light sourish undertone enhanced by lively and gently minerally, but not harshly stinging carbonation, full smooth and oily mouthfeel. The alcohol makes itself present - by a tingling sensation on the tongue - early on, but a rounded, slick, caramelly and pecan-nutty maltiness does absorb quite a bit of it, until the hops come in with a grapefruity, long-lasting, resinous, oily and lightly quinine-like bitterness and retronasal aspects of orange, pink pepper and some toasted red onion. Warming - almost heating - gin-like alcohol in the end, a bit too much so for me with a somewhat wry effect, amplifying both the hop and toasted bitterness; maltiness, in a bittersweet way but (at this stage) more bitter than sweet, sticks to the throat as well. Strong 'Belgian IPA' in terms of style - with a lovely thick-nutty maltiness to it as well as some fruity esters and spicy phenols, but not in a 'dirty', overpowering way; still the hops could have been more expressive and bright to my taste. Feels a tad restrained in that respect, like a hoppy 'edelbier' with a subtle modern twist, but there is no denying that in spite of not pushing the envelope in IPA territory, this is a very well-made, modern and streamlined Belgian beer. Enjoyed it, all things considered.

New Tartaruga beer (among a few other ones), a rye saison with honey. Bottle from Beergium. Huge, foamy, towering head, egg-white, dense, lacing and very mousy, slowly retreating and eventually opening but remaining stable, over a misty peach blonde beer with warm orangey tinge. Strong aroma of ripe banana and ripe pineapple (esters), carbon dioxide (like opening a bottle of strongly carbonized sparkling water), yellow raspberry jam, stewing turnips, honey indeed as well as nectar-rich wild flowers, freshly cut red apples as well as old dry apple cake, coriander seed, old bread crust, dried orange peel, dried thyme, hint of cloves, brown soap, linseed, something vaguely glue-like. Estery onset, banana but not in a disturbingly sweet or bubblegummy way, pineapple, red apple, peach, sweetish and sourish with the sourish aspect accentuated by very sharp, numbing, minerally and overly stinging carbonation (even for a saison); soft and somewhat soapy, bready malt bill with bread pulp- and dry cracker-like aspects, with the fruity esters still dancing on top - along with pronounced spicy phenols (thyme, clove, touch nutmeg) that, if they had been just a little bit stronger, would have become overly medicinal. The honey element adds little sweetness - it has fermented completely, as it tends to do in artisanal honey beers - but still makes its presence felt, in the form of a dry-vegetal, seed- and field flower-like aroma, supported by a soapy coriander seed flavour as well as a noble hop aroma of old dried 'herbes de Provençe' (with thyme in pole position) and camomile. The hops shape the finish in a leafy and spicy bitter way, long and resinous, quinine-, bitterroot- and dried old grapefruit peel-like in the end, with a drying and quenching effect, while apple-, banana- and pineapple-like esters keep pushing themselves forward. Dry, bready, crisp, very fizzy and floral with something of a meadow- or barnyard-like hint: this is a classically styled Belgian saison 'pur sang' in the vein of Saison Dupont, Saison de Pipaix or even Fantôme, that much is certain. Within that style, this is satisfying enough, but I must admit that the overcarbonation did bother me - it kept stinging till the very end and even for a classic style saison, after all a usually very strongly carbonated beer style, it became a bit too much, though admittedly it did do its job well in propelling the aromas forward. Not bad, in all, but perhaps looking backwards a bit too much, Tartaruga has produced more exciting and refreshingly 'modern' beers than this one.