tderoeck (22711) reviewed Hoplex from Team Hoplex 6 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Imported from my RateBeer account as Hoplex (by Team Hoplex):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 6/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 12/20, MyTotalScore: 3.1/5
15/IV/19 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent), I think @ home, BBE: 2020 - (2019-559)
Clear orange beer, big creamy off-white head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: very soapy, coriander, fruity, bit dusty, malty. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: very bitter, grapefruit pits, spicy touch, coriander, slightly sourish. Aftertaste: super bitter, spicy, coriander, dry, malty, bit grassy.
nathanvc (6963) reviewed Hoplex from Team Hoplex 6 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
24 February 2019. Wieze Bierfestival - cheers to Meeki, Ama Deke & the lovely Anke! Clear dark golden with a lasting, thin, frothy, off-white head. Aroma of dried banana, yeast, white bread, mouldy orange, melon, grass, cooked cauliflower. Taste is light to medium spicy bitter, notes of coriander, pepper, yeast & 'crude' grain, cauliflower & cabbage pop up next to sweetish notes of orange & apple, with some bread & yeast for balance. Dry, grainy finish, apple, spices, cabbage again. Medium body, slick texture, fizzy carbonation. Don't know what went wrong, too spicy & probably infected... Should have it again sometime.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Hoplex from Team Hoplex 7 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
The first beer from yet another local beer company referring to themselves as "Team Hoplex", but brewed at Eutropius; longneck bottle with simple blue label, bought at Dranken De Moor in Haasdonk, a village not far from my home village, and apparently these guys are situated in Haasdonk as well - which makes two beer companies there now (Ostdonk being the other one). The beer revival has hit Belgium with full force, that much is clear, curious to see how many of these dozens of new beer companies will stand the test of time... 'Membrane'-lacing, pale greyish white, creamy head, regularly shaped and medium thick, remaining closed for a long time, over an initially cristal clear, amber-tinged 'metallic' golden orange beer with no visible sparkling, shifting to a misty, deeper amber with sediment. Spicy, rather weird aroma of cédrat lemon (citron), patchouli, cloves, peanuts, fried potato slices, clay, herb cheese, old 'speculoos' (volatile), sweetbread, dried apricot, persimmon, vaguer hints of wet dog, old blankets, damp straw, soggy old bread, peppermints, wormwood, brown soap, damp tree leaves, cervil. Cleanly fruity onset, notes of red apple, green banana and dried apricot, restrainedly sweetish with a sourish touch to it accentuated by lively, bit minerally carbonation; slick, supple, bit oily mouthfeel, peanutty and cereally malt body quickly penetrated and dominated by a very resinous, tonic water-like, rooty, uncompromising oily hop bitterness even before the added spices (which I suspect include cinnamon) get a chance to shine; this bitterness becomes overly dominant before its time and lasts for a long time, drying the throat in a bitter-oily way. Retronasal peppermint and lavender effects try to pop up, but are a bit smothered by this wave of astringent hop bitterness. Technically close to perfect, but I have doubts about this beer conceptually speaking: this is basically a Belgian spiced amber ale - not an uncommon sight in the 'old days' and still alive today - 'modernised' with an excessive amount of resiny hop bitterness, not unlike the West Coast IPAs of ten to fifteen years ago. That in itself could work and the beer is clean enough in esters and phenols in order to achieve such an effect, but then why does it have to be so heavily spiced as well? This Belgian spice rack theme distracts from the hops, also because the latter fail to deliver a colourful aroma the way they could have. In the end, what we have here is an excessively bitter, insufficiently aromatic Belgian spice ale - but I cannot immediately find another Belgian beer to compare it with in that respect, so have an extra point for originality, especially for coming from a region that has long been totally devoid of brewing initiatives. Still, weird and demanding some patience to acquire - not sure if this will be a big commercial hit in very rural and conservative Haasdonk and surroundings, but I haven't met these guys (yet) so who knows what their intentions are commercially speaking...