alex_leit (19548) reviewed Kempisch Vuur Hoppergod from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle. Golden, smoky, weak white foam. Aroma: hoppy, herbaceous, slightly floral and lemon, light spice, pear. Tastes: grassy and spicy, earthy and woody, seeds of apples and pears, malt and yeast, specific.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Vennehoeve Godisvremd from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
Elderblossom-flavoured ale Pirlot makes for the Vennehoeve, a bed and breakfast in Boechout in the province of Antwerp. Older bottle, even having past its best before date by two months, so I got it for a bargain. Opens with an ominous hissing sound upon lifting the crown cap, but no gushing. Medium thick, regular, egg-white, barely lacing head quickly opening here and there, on a misty peachy-hued warm golden beer with some dead yeast dots near the bottom; turns into a 'dirty' and 'sandy' orange blonde with sediment, with those dead yeast bits all over the place. Aroma of ripe banana and overripe nectarine, mandarin peel, spoiled pumpkin soup, honeyish flowery elderblossoms in spring, sourish turnip juice, sourdough even, wet bread, potato mash gone bad, overripe cucumber, camomile tea, withering lettuce, candy floss, meringue. Fruity onset, banana ester mixed with pear, mandarin and pineapple notes, sweet with a clear sourishness underneath that penetrates the entire beer, a bit 'dirty' and hinting at onsetting infection, further accentuated by a sharp, numbing (over)carbonation effect; slick, bready malt body, some restrained honeyish sugariness stretching till the end and more or less balancing out that sourish aspect, quite phenolic in the finish with the elderblossom peeping through in an again honeyish, blossomy way, quite different from the fleshy note I usually get in elderblossom beers. Ends sweet, with curaçao citrus peel freshness, lingering fruity esters, spicy phenols and a late whiff of floral hop bitterness; a subtle hint of 'jenever'-like warmth and even slight astringency is noticeable, which should not at all be the case at this ABV. Granted, this beer is far beyond its prime and age did not treat it well, it seems; there are plenty of off-odours making it less than appealing, but I suspect this wasn't too great in young condition either, malty and too honeyishly sweet, teeming with Belgian esters and not making good use of the added ingredient - as if it serves only to emphasise the basic honeyish sweetness that is already dominant, without expressing its true character. Not undrinkable or anything, even at this age, but not very well-made either, let alone original - there were enough elderblossom Belgians around before this came along. Still a part of me can appreciate the fact that a B&B like Vennehoeve commissions its own beer in trying to emanate an aura of 'terroir', and I can understand that they opted for something as accessible as this for commercial reasons; for the more experienced beer taster, however, this kind of initiatives usually have very little to offer and this one is no exception at all.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Michiels - Désir from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
The improved, new version of the former Désir, the beer developed by a young pub owner and hobby brewer in Antwerp; differs from the previous version in being a little bit stronger (7% ABV instead of 6,5%) and darker, with the lightly altered label. The original version was brewed at Boelens, this new one apparently at Pirlot, hence the steinie bottle (bought at Willems in Grobbendonk, unambiguously the new version). Thick and foamy, pale yellowish beige, large-bubbled, audibly crackling head slowly dissipating in the middle, deep and warm, initially as good as clear amberish orange robe with coppery and even slightly pinkish tinge, misty with sediment, fine strings of sparkling. Aroma of ripe nectarines, strawberries, pan-fried apple and dry apple cake, strong orange peel (curacao, I presume) and even orange juice, bath foam, coriander, old dry ginger powder, dried peppermint leaves, carrot juice, bread crust. Fruity onset, sweet with a light sourish edge, banana, pronounced red apple, apricot, hint of strawberry, crisp with very strong, minerally carbonation on the brink of becoming bothersome; smooth, bit soapy mouthfeel, rounded, with a sweet caramelly malt body with very light peanutty accent. Residual ‘white’ sugariness lingers in a not too cloying way, soapy coriander is very present towards the finish as well as a bubblegummy aspect, a more ‘perfumey’ spiciness and the dried-citrusy curacao; late earthy hop bitterishness but sweetness remains the dominant factor. All this is eventually drowned in wodka-like, warming but also rather wry alcohol. Let’s not go into that extremely old-fashioned and, frankly, silly label of a cartoonish old lady – if you restyle your beer, perhaps a more thorough restyling of the label would also have been a good idea – but stick to the beer itself: this is, for me, a definite step upwards compared with the original 6.5% ABV version, much cleaner and less phenolic, fuller and maltier as well, with a perfumey-sweet spice quality to it which is usually not my cup of tea but is admittedly well-applied here. A kind of clean ‘Walloon style ambrée’ actually, rather than a classic blonde tripel.
Earlier Rating: 2/11/2017 Total Score: 2.9
Bottle from Dranken Pyl in Melsele. Very violent gusher, with beer spouting out of the bottle neck even during careful opening. Expectedly coarse, heavily cobweb-lacing, off-white, very irregular head, reduced to a pattern of thin veils in the middle and a steady rim on the edge, over an initially almost clear, warm ’old gold’ coloured beer with orange hue and bits of dead protein floating all around, turning a muddy ochre-ish orange with sediment. Aroma of fermenting green apple, pear peel, jute, moist white pepper, lots of banana (but no excessive bubblegum), old cloth, damp hay, baker’s yeast, old ’jenever’, damp earth, soggy white bread, fresh wormwood, gin, cooked potato, straw, unripe peach, dried apricot, dust. Fruity, crisp onset, overcarbonated and in that sense numbing, very minerally and needlessly souring, raping a play of sweetish banana and peach with sourish gooseberry and green apple, stinging a bit while the overall mouthfeel retains a certain suppleness and smoothness; soft pale malt sweetishness in the middle, bit honeyish due to residual white sugars, lots of banana ester travelling along, basic caramelly sweetishness too, ending in an unsatisfying finish of lingering malt and banana sweetness with just a dash of earthy, very subtly spicy hop bitterness, some soapy coriander and a lot of spicy phenols. Some ’jenever’-ish alcohol in the end too, as well as some bready yeastiness. Completely redundant beer: if one considers the home brewers’ activities to be the fertile ground upon which a new beer culture is planted, as was the case in the US, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and so on, then this one surely will pay no contribution at all to the advancement of Belgian beer culture. This tripel only confirms the clichés, with its overall white sugar sweetness, over-the-top banana ester, clove-like phenols and overcarbonation, and adds insult to injury by being one of the most fierce gushers I’ve seen from Boelens in a long time. No real off-flavours though, so in that sense okay, but absolutely unnecessary in every way, sorry.
vinivini (12734) reviewed Kempisch Vuur Jeneverbier from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 5.5
Bottle. Clear golden pour with a perfectly lacing white frothy head. Aroma: sweet malts, lollipop, spices, juniper giving strange minty/earthy/dusty notes. Tastes mostly like alredy mentioned. Initially sweet, drier ending. Light bitternes. The body is dense enough. Still odd.
vinivini (12734) reviewed Kempisch Vuur Hoppergod from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle. Cloudy golden. Two finger tall white frothy head. Decent retention. Nose: sourish peach, citrusy notes, pale malts, minor funk. Medium body. Taste: not much sweetness. Fruity, yeasty, light grassy bitterness. Not a style highlight but absolutely OK.
Benzai (24515) reviewed Kempisch Vuur Haver Stout Reserva from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4
Sampled from bottle @ RBBWG 2018, hosted by Beerlovers Bar, Antwerp. Pretty nice dark amber to purple color, small to average szed off-white to beige head. Smell and taste malts, sourness, tart, wood, typical oak barrel aging flavors, like a sour red brown instead of a stout. I don't like it, not my kind of beer at all.
ShivanDragon (10851) ticked De Liter van Pallieter from Pirlot 7 years ago
MiP (20366) reviewed Kempisch Vuur Winter Oak Barrel Aged from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Bottle, 9%. Citrus and vanilla notes, perhaps orangey. Clear dark golden colour. Small stable white head. The flavour is sweet with some vanilla, tobacco, cigar box. Some lemon to balance, and a fair amount of mellow alcohol. Smokey finish, whiskey-like, even peaty. Tastes like whiskey has been added.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle. Pours hazy amber with stable off-white head. Clear aroma of malt, Beligian yeast and flowers, with notes of barrel. Sweetish flavour of malt, vanilla, whisky barrel and flowers, with notes of yeast and bitter, hoppy touches. Bitter and sour-sweetish afteraste. Warming alcohol presence. Decent.
TomHendriksen (8176) reviewed Kerstvuur (2011-) from Pirlot 7 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 1 | Flavor - 1 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 0.5
Fles gedeeld met Roelzie en Koenzie. Het is een donkerbruin bier met weinig schuim. Fles was 3 jaar over datum, waarschijnlijk spoiled. Ontzettend zure geur en smaak. Bah.