Koelschtrinker (42542) reviewed Ceci N'IPA from Brouwerij De Feniks 8 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5
Mild hopfiger Antrunk. Geringe Hefigkeit, zu starke Karbonisierung. Weich, nett, wenn auch unspektakulär. 7/8/7/7//7
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4
Hellmalziger, zu stark karbonisierter Antrunk. Geringe Bitterkeit, typisch belgisch hefig. Mittellanger Nachhall. 7/8/7/7//7
Alengrin (11609) reviewed All Good Things Are 3 from Brouwerij De Feniks 8 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5
The tripel from this new brewery near Kortrijk, apparently flavored with zests of no less than three different citrus fruits (curaçao, orange and Philippine lime). From a steini bottle with the same sober yet stylish kind of label as the other ones in this series. Very regularly shaped, thick, egg-white, thickly ’papery’ lacing, fairly stable head slowly breaking here and there, over a hazy golden beer with somewhat ochre-like tinge. Expressive aroma of pear blossoms, bath foam, lemon-scented hand soap, fragrantly sweet orange zest but something almost Fanta-like as well, dried banana, coriander seed, melting powder sugar, fresh lime zest indeed but no lime juice effects, mashed potato, ripe nectarine, lots of unripe green melon, pineapple, young ’jenever’ and apple wodka, spring flowers, hints of camomile, dough, freshly grated ginger, unripe mandarin flesh, baker’s yeast, gooseberries and only the faintest sign of DMS, so faint that it does not even really disturb me, being oversensitive to it. Crisp, fruity onset, pear, some melon and pineapple with a slice of banana ester cutting through, sweet with a gooseberry sourish edge, sparkling carbonation - actually too fizzy even for a tripel - but otherwise smooth, ’full’ and rather soapy mouthfeel. The ’citrus fraîcheur’ is easily recognizable from the start and does have a - seemingly intended - uplifting effect. The fizzy carbo detracts a bit from the actual flavour, which remains very fruity - though not ’wildly’ estery - till the end, over a full, soft, bready, somewhat cereally and very lightly caramelly malt core. Phenols appear in the end but not overly so, adding a spicy touch but being deafened by a truckload of very soapy coriander, which eventually comes to dominate the finish and sadly almost threatens to blot the refreshing abilities of the citrus zests, though something lime peel-like fortunately firmly remains, as well as the unmistakable retronasal scent of curaçao. Deep below, the bready barley turns into bready yeastiness especially towards the end of the bottle when the sediment is added, but not obnoxiously so; an earthy and floral, even very ’dimly’ peppery hop bitterish factor is added but coriander and, at last, ’jenever’-like alcohol get the last word, the first carrying downwards an exaggerated soapiness and the latter warming up the chest. Tripels in Belgium can go either dry and bitter or, much more often, sweet and overly coriandered, and this one clearly belongs to the second category; in fact, it even ups the ante in this subcategory of sweet, spiced tripels, by not sticking to the traditional curaçao, but throwing in sweet orange and lime zest as well. This ’ethereal’ citrus peel factor works well - if you like this style of tripel, of course - and this beer is technically well executed, but why add so much coriander? I (and not I alone) have been bothered by the stubborn overusage of this old spice so many times, a new brewery trying to add new ideas to the Belgian beer landscape should know better than to add fancy citrus zests to a decently brewed tripel and then making them compete with something as dominant as coriander seed. A missed chance at adding a truly refined tripel to an admittedly overcrowded beer segment. From a more personal viewpoint: never been really fond of this ’sweet & spicy’ combo ruling so many Belgian ales to begin with and the persisting banana and sugary sweetness going down upon swallowing is something I have encountered one or two times too many in the Belgian ale family, so this one was probably never going to be ’my’ beer anyway, but in trying to be as objective as possible and this being brewed very well technically speaking, I cannot be too harsh on it. But please, please tune down on the coriander - or omit it altogether as far as I’m concerned.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Ceci N'IPA from Brouwerij De Feniks 8 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Belgian IPA (I assume) from this new brewing project near Kortrijk. Very tightly ’paper lacing’, egg-white, dense and stable, moussy head over a clear deep and warm orange coloured beer with ’old gold’ tinge. Atypical but interesting aroma of old dried ginger, moist paprika crisps, jute bags, walnut, dry grapefruit zest, raw broccoli, beetroot juice, celeriac puree, wet straw, iron, rainwater, raw white mushrooms, yellow grapefruit peel, subtle hints of moist white pepper, mustard seed, fresh green seaweed, raw chicken, chalk cliffs, brown soap, cooked Brussels sprouts, fried eggs. Fruity onset, bit estery, very low in sweetness with only a slight hint of unripe fruit (peach, green banana) surrounded by a soft, ’dim’ but nevertheless quite vivid sourish accent, otherwise fairly neutral; minerally side effects join a certain, albeit very subtle umami presence (green olive in this case) well concealed in the background. Carbonation is on the fizzy side even for the intended style, bringing a lot of minerally effects; mouthfeel nonetheless stays fairly smooth and supple, but is a bit soapy as well. Nice cereally and almost ’freshly baked’ bready malt core carries the ’dry’ fruity esters to a refreshingly bittering finish, with generous herbal and mildly spicy, very leafy hop qualities including floral - if not ’rural’ - aromas being pushed upwards retronasally; a yeasty, bready aspect with slight phenolic aspects does join in, but remotely so. Juicy ’cereally’ malt sweetishness remains dominant with a very ’dry’ herbal hop bitter colour added to it. "This is not an IPA", the label literally says (translated and reinterpreted from French) and I get the idea of not following the American - or international - IPA craze, but I am a bit inclined to disagree with the brewery: this smells, looks and feels like an old English style IPA the way it was before the New World claimed the style... Sure, there are certain ’Belgian’ yeast aspects, but in comparison with many other new attempts at "IPA" (the way the traditional Belgian brewers see it), this one is aromatic, quenching and indeed ’honest’ all at once - in other words, committing itself to the very roots of the India pale ale style in its very core. If viewed that way, this is a very accomplished beer and so far the best I had from this interesting new project.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Pours deep and dark brown. Small to average white head. Smell is mild chocolaty. Taste is rather bitter. Dark grainyness, mild chocolate. Very high carbonation. OK. Very simple one, but not bad.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Hérétique from Brouwerij De Feniks 8 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Spiced quadrupel from this new micro brewery near Kortrijk, cheers Gino and Kurt! Medium thick, moussy, fizzing and relatively quickly opening, pale greyish beige head over a hazy, dark but translucently purplish mahogany brown beer. Aroma of stewed plum, candied dates, brown rum, sweetbread, banana, minerals, ginger, damp leaves, melting brown sugar, cumin seed, (white?) cardemom and aniseed fainter but still noticeable, red bell peppers and even a weird impression of spicy barbecue sausages, old dry cloth, cooked carrots, butterscotch candy, rainwater, some fusel alcohol and, alas, unmistakable and again quite obnoxious DMS. Fruity onset, moderately estery, banana and even some bubblegum, dates, sweet ripe nectarine and pear, sourish undercurrent, bit blackcurrant-like, minerally carbonation numbing the sides of the tongue a bit and adding a vague sourish effect, rounded, bit ’fluffy’ and somewhat resinous mouthfeel, full and supple. A burning sensation of chili peppers becomes quite obvious from the middle onwards and heats the back, but does not numb or overpower too much. Bready, caramelly and slightly nutty malt body, a bit thinner than expected based on the ABV. Earthy yeastiness, phenols, leafy hop bitterishness and warming, rum-like alcohol join in the finish, the bitterness being reinforced by not just hops and alcohol but also the spice effects (cardemom becoming more obvious at this point as well as some of the cumin, but the aniseed remains much more hidden). Sweet maltiness spiced up by the chili heat is the last impression, and a quite pleasant one. I like the idea of heating up the normally sweet and fruity, ’brown sugary’ quad with chili peppers, but it takes an appreciation of (and resistance to) capsaicin to like this, as in the thinner malt environment of a quad in comparison with an imperial stout, they do become quite obvious and burning in the end. The other spices are unnecessary to me but in any case, this beer is technically a bit better executed than the other beers I had from them so far, and conceptually a Belgian classic with a modern twist; this is an interesting addition to the Belgian beer landscape. Have an extra point for that.
Kraddel (15844) reviewed All Good Things Are 3 from Brouwerij De Feniks 8 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 8
Pours rather unclear blonde, OK sized white head. Smell is bit spiced (very mild coriander ) bit malty, rather sweet; Taste is sweet, coriander. Extremely overcarbonated ! OK mf (is destroyed by all the gas ) A sweet, rather simple tripel. i can see this working ( if they reduce the carbonation by 75 pct ) comercially, something in the lines of karmeliet and chouffe, but I won’t love this kind of beers...
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Selfish Session from Brouwerij De Feniks 8 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
The session blonde from this new brewery, started by the former brewmaster of Unibroue in Chambly, Québec. Contrary to the two previous ones I had from them, this one does not gush. Very thick and foamy, dense, beaten egg-like, off-white head leaving behind a thick gird of membranous lacing and remaining stable and closed for the entire tasting session; hazy straw blonde robe with vaguely olive green tinge, the haze being perturbed by columns of enthusiastic sparkling; adding the sediment not only throws an equally cloudy, ochre-ish pale peach blonde veil over the entire beer, but also adds a few large flakes of pale proteins - not the prettiest sight I’ve seen in a beer so far. Aroma of old apple peel, a whole lot of obnoxious and very off-putting DMS (overcooked white cabbage), dough, dried garden weeds, unripe gooseberries, chalk, white bread, fresh chamomile flowers, hard pear, baker’s yeast, soap, moist white pepper, very old ginger powder, bubblegum hidden in the background, banana milkshake, melting powder sugar, jute, straw. Crisp, fruity onset, some banana ester but not overdone, impressions of hard pear, unripe peach and dito yellow plum, overall very restrained in sweetness with a softly souring edge, slightly rhubarb-like; carbonation is spritzy but ’normal’ for this type of beer, mouthfeel is supple and light but does betray the near to 7% ABV. Bready and sharper cereally malt middle, bit ’fluffy’, sitting comfortably under the ongoing ’unripe fruit’ accents and growing spicy phenols, though nothing medicinal or chemical happens; finish copies this bready yeastiness and maltiness along with the ’hard pear’-like fruitiness (I guess this is what my esteemed colleague below means with his Duvel comparison) and adds a grassy, floral, slightly leafy hop bitter touch, with a gently drying effect. The malt and estery sweet aspects keep prevailing, though, accompanied by a subtle chalky touch. Ends mildly sweet, much the same way it began. I am especially bothered by the DMS here: either this has not been cooked for long enough, or it has been cooled down too slowly after cooking, but this sulphuric ’stench’ is very pronounced in this case and I hate it. Other than that: ordinary Belgian blonde, on the dryish side and fortunately not too sweet, but a bit bland. As for style: again this brewery creates a lot of confusion by naming this a ’golden ale’, which implies Anglo-Saxon intentions - and those very clearly are not present here, as this beer is very obviously conceived as a simple Belgian blonde thirst quencher. If it weren’t for the overdosis of DMS, I would have recommended it within that usually boring - yet still commercially important - range of beers. And on a different note: agreed, this is Belgium, but if you give your beers English names in order to attract an international audience, I doubt if calling a near 7% ABV beer ’session’ is commercially viable...
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5
My second Feniks beer, again many thanks to Gino and Kurt. Gusher, but manageable. Lightly lacing, coarse but moussy, egg-white, fairly thick head with beige tinge, retaining well; immediately cloudy rust brown robe with reddish burgundy hue, turning darker and more ’muddy’ with sediment (which consists of undissolved bits of pale brown ’coffee cream’ lingering on top of the foam, apparently). Aroma of honey, banana mush, candied cherry ’pralines’, ruby port, cloves, baked pear, caramel candy, ginger powder, black pepper, iron, melting brown candi sugar, plum wine, fainter hints of aniseed, peppermint leaves even, damp earth, canned peaches, marmelade, cookie dough, soggy brownies, old milk chocolate bars, almond, hazelnut paste, some fresh basil and very vague horse steak. Sweet onset, lots of banana ester, even quite strongly ’bubblegummy’, hints of peach, pineapple and brambleberry with a sourish edge to it, fizzy carbo (a bit numbing even) coarsening an otherwise smooth, ’fluffy’ mouthfeel. Very caramelly malt sweet middle with a very noticeable, though not too disturbing metallic edge, honeyish sweetness of residual white candi sugar syrup on top while the fruity (especially banana) esteriness persists, clove-like phenolic effects towards the end, on the brink of turning a bit medicinal but fortunately not crossing that line; sweetness goes on till the very end without becoming sticky at any point. Finish adds yeasty earthiness (especially after adding the sediment, obviously) and a dash of herbal, damp tea leaf-like hoppiness, which however refrains from offering the much-needed bitter balance against the sweetness. Ends with a port- and slightly rum-like warming alcohol effect, though this alcohol behaves rather nicely and does not become all too obnoxious. Candi sugar, caramel and banana sweetness go down into the throat with that careful herbal hop bitterish touch. Very estery and phenolic, with a candi sugar sweetness that will appeal to the masses: this is very clearly a classically conceived Belgian dubbel and not at all a brown ale in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the word; the subscription "brown ale" under the name is therefore to be ignored - and advised against, as this will only create confusion among beer geeks. As a dubbel, though, this performs well; a bit overcarbonated, gushing and too sweet, but nevertheless offering a rather complex array of refined aromas without any off-flavours, though sweetness remains dominant in both nose and mouth. I firmly believe that this will appeal to a larger (primarily Belgian) audience, but for me personally, I’d rather have received a true, clean Anglo-Saxon brown ale than yet another sweet and utterly Belgian dubbel. I do, however, enjoy the fact that this bottle introduced me to a Billie Holiday song I hadn’t heard before...
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7.5
Imperial oatmeal stout, my first beer from this brand new micro brewery near Kortrijk in western Flanders, thanks Gino and Kurt - the first of which was apparently the brewmaster of Québec’s Unibroue before Sleeman took over, and subsequently returned to Belgium to turn the old Riva into Liefmans Breweries, which eventually went bankrupt. Curious to find out more about the range he brews now in his own settlement, hopefully many echoes from Unibroue, which, surpassed as it may be today, was among the first breweries in Canada to jump start the craft beer revolution there. This one opens under quite a lot of pressure and gushes, so be ware, though the gushing is slow enough to limit the loss of beer to a minimum. Medium thick, pale beige head, quickly settling to a firm, regular, well-retaining rim and a thin greyish ’island’ in the middle but eventually all but vanishing; blackish colour with hazy mahogany brown edges, the coloration being visible for about one centimeter off the edge before vanishing into utter darkness. Quite strong bouquet of a lot of very aromatic, overpowering liquorish, even liquorish candy, followed by more sedate impressions of butterscotch and melting caramel candy, Belgian chocolates made with ’fondant’ chocolate, brown rum, ruby port, coffee liqueur, raisins, strong baked banana, wodka, wet leather, hazelnut oil, honey peeping through subtly, stewed plums, burnt toast, cloves, glue. Fruity onset, estery (a bit much so for the style) with hints of ripe pear, dried banana and blueberry, but retaining itself thanks to balancing, ’deep’ sourishness and a (very) slight touch of beefy umami, though a candied fruit sweetness dominates; carbonation is delicate but determined and a bit too spritzy for the style (unsurprising seen the gushing effect), numbing the tip of the tongue a bit. A thick, rather syrupy mouthfeel is somewhat coarsened by this overcarbonation, which is a bit of a shame. Thick, ’fat’ maltiness ensues, mouth-filling but still tingling too much from the sharp carbo, and feeling less oily than it could and should have been for a 10% stout especially since oatmeal has been used and does try to effectuate a creaminess to the whole, which can be felt through the carbonation; in all, though, mouthfeel is more quad-like than imperial stout-like. The flavour is a noble, butterscotch-like sweet at first, thoroughly nutty as well, before turning into a deeper toasted bitterness, though the caramel sweetness never quite goes away; meanwhile the banana ester notes linger a bit, though not disturbingly so, and the liquorish effect from the nose shows up in full armour, attacking the nose retronasally with great force, almost blotting out the qualities of the malt beneath. Since no liquorish has actually been used, I guess this effect is a mixture of clove-like (or in other ways spicy) phenols and nutty malts; it keeps dominating the finish till the end, supported by an almost tea-ish herbal hop bitterness. Earthy yeastiness is added in the very end - including more outspoken clove phenols - and the throat is heated by a wodka-like alcohol effect, becoming a tad wry in the very end. In all, a meritorious attempt, but still very Belgian: as the international craft beer movement penetrates this country more and more, more and more imperial stout attempts will be made, but like IPA, they will get stuck in the middle, unable to shake off the clichés of Belgian fermentation; this does not necessarily lead to failed beers of course, but I think it will be only a matter of time before beer connoisseurs come up with a term like "Belgian imperial stout" (already used by a number of breweries in the States) and if this will ever happen, this Jazz’ Black Oatmeal Delight has all the chances of becoming a classic example of it, along with several others. If you forget the clean character of Anglo-Saxon ’impies’ and are willing to accept a strong Belgian quadrupel-like character in your big stouts, this will be your beer. I, for one, would rather have seen a big black stout without any trace of Belgian esters or phenols, because I am still waiting for that being made within the borders of this small country.