kerstbierfestival essen 2019

The second beer from these (literal) circus artists, originally simply labelled blond but intended as a session IPA from the start, which explains why meanwhile, the label has been changed and now clearly states Jongleur Session IPA. Very irregular, uneven-bubbled, shred-lacing, off-white, quickly opening head on a hazy straw blonde beer with pale apricot hue, turning cloudy and more ochre-ish with sediment. Aroma of ripe banana, lemon candy, sugared lime juice, orange zest, lemongrass, raw white bread dough, raw parsnip, lemon thyme, sweetclover, hints of pumice, lavender, freshly cut red apples, ripe pear, pineapple, acacia honey, soap or even ladies' perfume. Crisp onset, less banana ester sweetness than expected based on the nose, accents of pineapple, pear and green apples, in all quite sweetish but not excessively so, light cucumber-like sourish edge accentuated by very fizzy, initially even painfully stinging carbonation; supple body, feeling a tad fuller than 4% ABV. Bready and cereally malts, sweetish with some esters and phenols soaked into it, but ending hop bitter in a leafy, somewhat earthy but also lightly citrusy manner, with retronasal aromas of lemonbalm, sweetclover and lemon thyme - though remaining far removed from the bright, clean and crisp citrusiness I tend to expect from even an old school IPA. Some pumice-like minerality in the end, along with somewhat annoying soapiness, lingering hop bitterness and soft, if a bit 'dirty' breadiness. Feels a bit 'untidy', in all, something I do not usually appreciate in a session IPA; very 'Belgian' as well, with lots of phenolic and (banana-)estery activity, as well as lots of bready effects. If anything, this is a Belgian blonde hop-forwarded with New World aspects, but still a very Belgian blonde in its very nature; still the Circus brewery is now selling it as an ISA, so I guess we have to respect brewer's intent. Way too yeasty, needs cleaning up and needs a more expressive hop profile - but that said, not a bad beer at all, light-bodied and aromatic, with a decent amount of 'end bitterness', in all. Enjoyable enough, but be sure to expect a Belgian style ale rather than anything truly IPA-like - as is usually the case with these Belgian attempts at whatever IPA style.

Malzig herber, trocken würziger Beginn. Trocken bleibend, leicht erhöhte Karbonisierung, minimal bitter, mittellanger Abgang. Nett. 10/9/11/10/10/11

Pours black, medium sized, relatively stable, darkly tanned head. Scent is sharp, typical Belgian style Imperial Stout. Rosty, but realtively dry ( not as creamy and syrupy as the american counterparts ). Taste is full, roasty, relatively high carbonation and astrignency. Ashy, burnt malts. I miss a full body and complexity here. Sharp, with an accidic touch by the roastyness of the malts. Not great.

Blonde quencher from this Circusbrouwerij, executed at Gaverhopke. Thanks to tderoeck for sharing. Snow white, thick and foamy, large-bubbled yet frothy head on a hazy peach blonde beer with pale ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of honey, fried apple, coriander seed and other spices (yarrow!), sugared bread, ripe pear, bitter green plants, some DMS (cooked broccoli), 'lycheejenever', vague hint at cumin seed perhaps. Crisp, fruity onset, apple, pineapple and banana notes, very fizzy carbonation, sweetish bready maltiness, soft and yeasty-powdery near the end, the powderiness seemingly accentuated by a 'pollen'-like effect of what I strongly suspect is yarrow, but there is a clear soapy note from coriander seed as well; softly bittering, spicy finish, dry and quite herbal. Ordinary Belgian blonde with a spicy twist, yarrow remains my best guess. Drinkable, but not entirely without flaws; I am just glad that they didn't overdo it with the spice rack this time.

11/I/20 - 33cl bottle from… I forgot, shared @ home, BB: n/a, bottled: VII/2019 (2020-21)

Clear orange beer, big aery to creamy off-white head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: lots of CO2, cheesy, herbal, rotting flowers, DMS, very unpleasant, weird, some lychee, weird spices and herbs, very weird beer this one… MF: very lively carbon, medium body. Taste: bit sourish, very herbal, spicy, some fruity notes, yellow stone fruit and overripe pears, bit oxidized, very floral, soapy bitterness. Aftertaste: little oxidized, very spicy, weird, rather unpleasant. Not a big fan.

33cl bottle. A very dark brown beer with a beige head. Aroma of dark moderate sweet roasted malt, liquorice, figs. Taste of liquorice, strong dark red malt, dark fruits, figs.

Dark golden, small head. Aroma is rum, floral, herbs, old fashioned pharmacy/drogisterij, taste is the same. Rum, not bad

Imported from untappd on 02-05-2020