New England style IPA by one of Italy’s most familiar names in the field of modern brewing joining forces with Magic Rock. Snow white, large-bubbled, quite loose and open head and hazy golden blonde robe with warmer peachy tinge. Aroma of green apple, chamomile, red onion jam, lemon thyme, straw, lemonbalm, unripe green mango. Fruity onset, green apple and hard pear, unripe banana, quite restrained in sweetness for this style, medium carbonated; smooth body, cereally and bready maltiness but less ‘doughy’ and fluffy than is custom for a NEIPA. The hops, too, behave differently: instead of an all-penetrating ‘wave’ of tropical fruits and very little if any bitterness, the hops here do produce dryness and bitterness and aromatically remind me more of crushed peppercorns, lemonbalm and dried lemon peel than sweet exotic fruit. A dry, grassy, spicy ale rather than actual NEIPA, but ignoring the New England intentions, refreshing, crisp and pleasant enough. Still: point off for wanting to be a NEIPA and not succeeding.

Barleywine by a line-up of some of Italy’s leading craft breweries, apparently made in memory of a deceased metalhead named Adry ‘Metal’ Ventura – too bad there is no further detail about who this person was. Pale yellowish beige, tightly moussy but eventually opening, edge-retaining head on a clear deep caramel brown beer with ruddy-coppery glow. Aroma of caramel candy, beef stock, blackberry juice, red wine, fig compote, reduced gravy, dried porcini, medlar, brown sugar and a hint of tomato concentrate. Sweetish onset, dried apple peel, sourish blackberry- or grape-ish undertone, but also (certainly for style) quite pronounced beef stock-like umami; softish carb, full and bit sticky mouthfeel. Caramelly and brown-bready malts offering core sweetness but this umami element continues as well, becoming a tad annoying; tea-ish herbal hop bitterness in the end, along with warming liqueurish alcohol and lingering dried red fruit and caramel associations. The alcohol does become a bit too hot in the end even for the intended style – a style rarely executed to its full potential, alas, and that is no different here. Still a decent sipper, for sure, but I was expecting a bit more, to be honest.

7/I/22 - 44cl can from Geers (Oostakker) @ Wim VL’s place, BB: 30/VI/22, L21063/1 (2022-38) Thanks to Johan L. for sharing the can!

Cloudy orange beer, small creamy off-white head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: nice, fruity, lots of citrus, sweet impression, cheesy, fruity. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: very fruity, some citrus, grapefruit, gentle bitterness, hoppy. Aftertaste: grapefruit, more citrus, nice bitterness, decent ipa!

@ Abbey Road Ortona

Bottle sample at a tasting at Yoav's place. Murky yellow. Oniony hops, a bit sweetish, somewhat green bitterness.

Bottle sample at a tasting at Yoav's place. Hazy yellow. Oniony citric hops, slightly sweetish, bitter finish.

Bière se proclamant Belgian Strong Beer avec ajout de kaki et de Brett et titrant à 11 %. Le résultat est un cocktail aromatique pas transcendant et relativement simple, où le kaki se ressent bien avec des arômes d'orange amère, de miel et de Brett, ce dernier étant très léger voire superflu. Mais c'est dans la densité et la vivacité que l'on est le plus déçu. La texture est peu dense dans la droite lignée de la texture, très fine, ce qui surprend à la dégustation. L'alcool, à 11% est quant à lui mal intégré et ne donne pas le tempérament attendu d'une belge forte et de surcroît, le sucre est trop poussé. Bref, cela fait trop de fausses notes pour être dans la lignée des bières belges. Le visuel est sur un blond orangé sans mousse. Le nez est sur une alliance miel, écorce d'orange, kaki avec de fines épices et une expression légère du Brett. L'ensemble, sans être désagréable est peu passionnant. En bouche la texture fine déçoit donc avec un cocktail reprenant exactement le nez. L'alcool commence réellement à s'exprimer en seconde bouche, de façon dissonante et ne conférant pas réellement de puissance. Cela est d'ailleurs encore ^plus notable en arrière bouche. La corpulence est respectable, alors que le final retombe trop rapidement, laissant avant tout l'alcool en bouche. Passable mais aucune Belgique Attitude.