14 January 2022. At Café Cambrinus, Brugge. Shared with the lovely Anke!

Apparently I didn't rate this one at ZBF 2019. Hazy yellow, stable, frothy, off-white head. Aroma of wheat, white bread, apple peel, cooked ham, soap, grape, tobacco somewhere. Taste has sweetish apple & grape over a bready, wheaty malt base with spicy and sour citrus notes. Grassy hoppy finish, lingering grape note, quite perfumey. Medium body, slick texture, average carbonation. Very odd in aroma but still decent. Just not very 'noble'.

33 cl. Light amber colour, hazy, yellowish foam. Aroma: esters, apple, spicy, fruity, candy. Sweetish taste, light sourness, pear, apple, candy, slightly bitter, not bad, warming.

The Viven brand, under its present-day ownership (since 2006), has been dabbling in foreign craft beer styles for years and with success (think of their smoked porter or imperial IPA), in my opinion; now let's see what they made of the ubiquitous New England IPA style. Thick, frothy, textbook cobweb-lacing, egg-white, rather irregular but stable head, initially near-clear pale straw-yellow blonde robe with a column of lively sparkling in the middle, turning a bit more misty with sediment but never acquiring the overall haziness that would at least make it look like a NEIPA. Aroma of lemon zest and dried lemon peel, some lemon-scented hand soap even, lemon verbena, paprika crisps, Granny Smith apple, green banana, white bread, cold French fries, leek, freshly mown lawn, gypsum, moist white pepper, spring onion, tulips. Crisp, restrainedly sweet onset, hints of green apple, unripe banana and a vague dash of lime, lively carbonated with minerally effect; slick body, bread crust and crackers but in a thin, grainy way, faint soapy or chalky notes here and there, gradually bittered by a long, peppery, leafy and slightly quinine-ish hoppiness, adding retronasal dried lemon peel and lemon verbena aromas - but none of the luscious sweet fruitiness expected from a NEIPA. The peppery bitterness lingers for a long time, whereas a real NEIPA would show only brief and light hop bitterness, if any. In all, a refreshing, hoppy Belgian blonde, even 'Belgian IPA' if you must, but by no means a NEIPA - not in looks, not in aroma and not in flavour; the number of NEIPA-like elements I find here is literally zero, which is even less than in several similar attempts at this style made in Belgium by generally more traditionally oriented brewers. Point off for that - with pain in my heart, because if seen as a quenching, light, summery hoppy blonde, this beer actually performs very well... Note: considering some of the earlier ratings below and the fact that my sample had an orange label rather than the blue shown here, perhaps the first batch was closer to the real thing than this one?...

English style barleywine as interpreted by Viven in West-Flanders, bottle from De Pickere in Zele - with quite a classy front label, I must add. Medium sized, irregularly but tightly lacing, pale greyish white, slowly breaking but generally stable head, misty deep and pure orangey amber robe with darker ruddy-brownish tinge and visible sparkling, turning into a murky caramel brown with sediment. Aroma of very Belgian-estery bubblegum and banana, candyfloss even, caramel candy, yellow raisins, cooked apple, freshly baked white bread crust, Madeleine cookies soaked in cognac, damp earth, molten or old and worn out rubber, pear juice, whisky, burnt sugar, tea, wet papier maché, outspoken (phenolic) clove, rotting tree leaves or even lettuce tucked away in the background. Sweet, fizzy onset: lots of tingling (over)carbonation, almost soda-like and definitely too much for the intended style, playing around with sweet notes of banana, cooked sweet apple, ripe pear and medlar, with a vague sourish undertone; smooth, bit vinous mouthfeel, but too carbonated and thinned by the alcohol that is to come. Malty middle phase, caramelly with bubblegummy edges and sweet-bready core, honeyish on top, but in the end a slight toasted-peanutty or indeed even toasted-bready bitterishness is added - and though it remains subtle, it makes up for a lot. Unfortunately, after the hops have briefly deposited a leafy bitter note nicely blending with this malt bitterish aspect, strong clove-like phenols set in - and then they too are obliterated by a near-burning, cheap brandy-like alcohol effect, heating the palate and throat and impairing drinkability. The banana ester (and bubblegum) effect sadly remain powerful till the last sip. Ambitious beer, but like most other barley wines in Anglo-Saxon vein ever made in Belgium, remaining stuck in the Belgian strong ale idiom, with a huge amount of bubblegum and clove-like spiciness that has absolutely nothing to do with true barley wine, on top of being crudely boozy. As such, this interpretation feels rather far-fetched, unbalanced, unconvincing and inauthentic - though I am sure the amateurs of Belgian style strong ales will possibly love it, also because of its booziness and rather harsh, numbing overcarbonation. Not a true barleywine even if they got at least the idea right, but none expected from this brewery either, so I will not be too harsh on it; still, I remain under the impression that the best Belgian barley wines are beers not intended to be 'genuine' barley wines at all (think of Dolle's Stille Nacht Speciaal Reserva editions, for example)...

33cl bottle. A minimal hazy golden beer with a white head. Aroma of banana, mild phenols and yeast. Taste of sweet banana, sweet wheat malt, yeast and phenols.

Bottle 33 cl. Bronze-amber colour, creamy foam. Aroma: esters, caramel, spicy, plum wine, even a little vinegar and plum brandy. Sweet taste with light sourness, cherry plum wine, spicy, caramel, unusual.

Bottle at De Fiere Margiet, Leuven. Well, I can see why it's get kudos. It is a deep reddy golden colour. Has enormous depth and abv is nicely balanced. Wasn't Wasn't dilligent with noting, but great beer.

24/XII/21 - 33cl bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck (Vichte), shared @ Christmas Eve at Arno & Meggy’s place, BB: 9/VI/23 (2021-1604)

Clear orange to amber beer, big creamy irregular off-white head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: very fruity, ripe banana, bit sugary, almonds, pretty oxidized, malty, more banana. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: bit sourish, weird, green apples, bit yeasty, little bitter, bit chemical. Aftertaste: more yeast, sourish touch, bit weird, unpleasant.

Fles 33cl thuis. Caramel, licht vineus, gedroogd fruit, rood fruit, kandij, pruim, vrij zoet, wat boozy, wat chocolade, licht kruidig. (17-12-2021).