13/V/21 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ Akke’s place, BB: 10/IV/21 (2021-383)

Pretty clear blond to orange beer, big creamy beige head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: bit malty, oxidized, some banana, herbal touch, bit spicy, ripe fruits. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bit yeasty, bitter, honey, bit oxidized, good hoppy notes, malty, some caramel. Aftertaste: spicy, dried fruits, malty, bit hoppy, more caramel.

15/IV/21 - 33cl bottle form Geers (Oostakker), shared @ my parents’ place, BB: 3/VIII/21 (2021-287)

Clear pale blond beer, huge creamy white irregular head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: very yeasty, weird, a bit off, funky, chemical. MF: very lively carbon, medium body. Taste: bit chemical, yeasty, sweet, overripe banana, band-aid, rubbery. Aftertaste: soft bitterness, bit acidic, wheat notes, some citrus, yeasty, bit chemical in the finish.

29/I/21 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent), shared @ home, BB: 8/X/21 (2021-92)

Clear blond to light orange beer, big aery fizzy irregular white head, unstable, falls down quickly, non adhesive. Aroma: very malty, grains, hay, cow fodder, very yeasty, slightly fruity, quite some coriander. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: lots and lots of dried orange peel, quite some coriander, soft acidity, some wheat notes. Aftertaste: bit peppery, orange peel, lots of coriander, pink pepper corn.

The first beer by this microbrewery near Wetteren (southeast of Ghent), a witbier brewed with the obligatory coriander seed, but also with ginger, replacing the old curaçao. Thick and frothy, very mousy, barely lacing, eggshell-white head, remaining thick and closed for a long time, sustained by enthusiastic sparkling beneath, rushing upwards through an initially only very lightly hazed but in practice near-clear, pure golden coloured beer, turning misty with an ochre-ish apricot tinge when the sediment is added. Aroma of pear, flour, lots of bread crumbs and drying white bread, ethereally sweet-spicy ginger indeed but not overpowering too much (which is what I was afraid of, to be frank), banana peel, soapy coriander seed, freshly cut sweet red apple, raw pineapple, vague note of lemongrass, fresh camomile, some sourdough in the background. Fruity onset, sweetish, banana and pineapple esters with a touch of pear, medium carb, some subtle minerally notes here and there, rounded and slick mouthfeel; bready and soapy wheatiness with a clear sourishness to it as befits a witbier, soft bread crumb 'barleyness' as well - both grains are well balanced here. Before long and turning the attention away from the fruity aspects, the spicing sets in: the soapy coriander seed effect one can expect from the style, but also this more perfumey, sweetish ginger effect, and bizarrely enough, none of those two fights for domination; in fact this 'dim' sourishness from - I guess - the wheat remains an important factor, still linked to yeasty and malty breadiness and minerally side notes. The finish maintains this soapy-spiciness to the same degree of relative subtlety, adding more breadiness and sourishness - the latter feeling more 'yeasty' than 'wheaty' at this point, strangely. Relatively short finish, in all, but this is a witbier so apart from a dash of floral, gently bittering hops working briefly, I did not expect a long finish anyway - and those hops are certainly there. Not bad at all for a (commercially) first attempt; replacing the old combo of coriander and curaçao (set as a standard by the great Pierre Celis) by other herbs and spices has been done in witbier before, even in the previous century, but considering how the consumption of the style here in Belgium has dramatically declined in the past two decades, it takes a certain amount of bravery to come up with such an idea again - I guess the brewer is a dedicated 'blanche' lover. In all: not your average witbier, a bit hoppier and indeed clearly replacing the citrus peel effect by a ginger effect, but doing so in a very balanced, easily drinkable, non-offensive and accessible way. Even if witbier is not really my preferred beer style, I had way worse in this specific segment.

Bottle from De Hopduvel. Hazy amber colour, white foam. Dry, some citrussy, medium bitter finish. Not an outspoken flavour and aroma but good and well balanced.

The second beer by this new microbrewery near Wetteren, which is all about brewing with completely Belgian ingredients, except for the spicing in their first beer (a witbier called Pikaflor), but then the brewer apparently intends to grow even those (exotic) spices himself… Anyway, this hop-forward blonde - and therefore almost by definition a 'Belgian IPA' in our present time - was hopped with a series of New World hop varieties that were grown in Belgium. Very slow gusher, but by the time the foam begins to creep out of the bottle, you'll have finished half of your glass - so plenty of time to pour it properly. Thick and frothy, off-white, very mousy and stable head, only very slowly showing gaps here and there, on a misty deep amber-hued orangey-peach beer with 'dirty ochre-ish' tinge especially after adding the sediment. Aroma of old dry biscuit, dried orange peel, old cheese rind, crushed peanuts, toasted onion, pink peppercorns, old paprika powder, very vague hint of rusty iron (oxidation?), black radish peel, soggy rusk, dry baker's yeast especially after adding the sediment, red apple that has been cut and exposed to air for a while, nutmeg. Fruity, crisp onset, lively carbonated with minerally effects, dried apple peel, baked banana and vague apricot notes but nowhere explicitly sweet, rounded and smooth rusk-, peanut- and bread crust-like malt profile (including a light rye spiciness), phenolic nutmeg-like aspect mingling with the retronasal aromatics of the hops which in this case remain quite 'dry' and restrained, reminiscent of old dried citrus peel, some bitter herbs and pink peppercorns with a touch of fried onion, a bit 'West-Coasty' in a sense but subtly so. Meanwhile the yeast adds a bready effect in the background while fruity and spicy aspects linger, as well as minerally aspects and an eventually rooty, leafy hop bitterness, which, though explicit and long enough, remains altogether relatively mild. Belgian blonde with a light New World twist thanks to all those hops, but as usual in Belgian attempts at international hoppiness, both the aromas and the bitterness of these wonderful varieties remain very understated. I guess they had to be kept in balance with the malt profile (which is quite complex and pleasant) in the opinion of the creator and I can understand why, but still I feel that it is a pity to use American hop varieties - even if grown in Belgium with a necessarily different flavour profile as a result - and not let hem shine all the way, like they can do so beautifully in many foreign IPAs. My particular sample also showed minor signs of onsetting oxidation in spite of having been bottled only seven weeks ago, so there seems to be a technical issue that needs to be addressed as well. That said, for a, well, second attempt (I haven't had the first one yet), this is a surprisingly decent beer, in which clearly a lot of thought and work has been invested - many other attempting microbrewers can learn from this approach. In all, not bad at all!