5/VI/22 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ Akke’s place, BB: 28/I/24 (2022-663)

Pretty cloudy orange amber beer, small creamy off-white head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: malty, fruity, very very oxidized, spicy, yeasty, weird. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: a bit sourish, weird, dirty touch, malty, grains, a bit sweet, fruity. Aftertaste: some apples, very weird, don’t like it very much.

New milk stout by Broers in Wachtebeke, bought at the church of Overslag they currently hire as a marketing platform for their beers, with the intention of eventually actually brewing at the site as well – a site already worth a visit already now, and probably even more once the brewing installation is set up. Medium thick, yellowish pale beige, moussy, opening and eventually dissolving head on a very dark chocolate brown beer, nearly black, with burgundy edges. Aroma of coffee grounds, roasted pecan nuts, burnt toast, roasted chicory, pear, cola, marmite and indeed some milk powder as can be expected. Sweetish onset, dried elderberry and pear aspects but generally kept very clean, fizzily carbonated; vague sourish accent underneath, merging well with the lactose sweetness that ensues, albeit in a subdued way – clearly the brewer has veered away from pastry stout territory here. Rounded, walnutty and hard-caramelly malts with a chocolatey core and roasty, coffee-bitter tail, carrying this accent of milk sugar to a generally clean, bittersweet, medium long finish in which the alcohol, very high for the style, remains very well hidden, worth an extra point for me. As I already told the brewer who was eager to read my notes when he saw me writing them down, this is a very well-balanced, very classically styled, old-fashionedly English milk stout, of the kind one would have encountered back in the 20th century before all that craft beer ‘violence’ profoundly disrupted the beer world; and even though I am the first to defend modern American and Scandinavian style ‘show stouts’, it is equally satisfying for me to come across a modest, balanced, clean and dry old school stout like this one every now and then. Recommended, if you are into classic style stouts – in any case very well made and delivering exactly what it says: a milk stout the ‘old’ way, nothing more, nothing less, the only thing setting it apart from tradition being its strength, as typical 20th-century milk stouts were usually low in alcohol.

Bottle at home. Clear golden color, medium sized white head. Aroma is malts, hayish. Flavor is malts, grainy malty bitters, hayish again. Can't say I really get a decent hoppiness in there. Quite bland actually imo. Malty and bitter and that's it. Drinkable but not really enjoyable tbh.

Clear copper colour with lasting head. It's a sweet and malty Barley Wine with a jammy sweetness. No smokiness but the pleasant chilli warmth in the finish is nice.

Black with thin creamy head. Aroma has caramelised sugars and dark malts. Flavour has some sweet berry notes and a touch of liquorice next to the caramel and roasted bitterness.

Broers joining in the 'tradition' of making custom beers for rock bands, in this case Powerstroke, a metalband Powerstroke from the Flemish Meetjesland region. Snow white, membrane-lacing, thick, dense and firm head on a misty golden blonde beer with ochre-ish tinge and lively visible sparkling, turning into a hazy pale apricot with the sediment added. Aroma of freshly cut apple, glazed pear, coriander powder, honey, cake dough, melon, hints of wodka, white bread pulp, dried dandelion leaves, some bitterroot even, fried sweet potato. Fruity onset, crisp with hints of green apple, pear and banana, lively carbonated but very acceptable for the style, with full to almost 'fluffy' mouthfeel; lovely bready and somewhat honeyish middle, cereally at the edges, cracker-like, with clear coriander 'dust' spiciness in the end along with a confident, well-dosed, firm, earthy and eventually somewhat quinine-like hop bitterness. Whisky-like alcohol is apparent, but somehow manages to avoid unpleasant astringency, while phenolic spiciness (clove) and coriander subtly linger. Too bad for the rather unflattering second name - but this is made for a death metal ensemble, so they probably could care less; technically speaking, a very well-structured, balanced and characterful tripel, though very stereotypical (again).

Broers have been issuing a yearly Cuvée in the past two years, each time following the same recipe – a blonde ale of 7% ABV hopped with Cascade they grow themselves in their garden. This rating concerns the 2021 edition. Starts off with very violent gushing, spouting out of the bottle – it took me quite some time and precaution to avoid major loss… Medium thick, off-white, moussy head lacing in shreds and dissipating till eventually as good as nothing is left; misty warm and ‘sunny’ orange robe with even a slight amberish tinge, lots of lively sparkling and tiny specks of dead yeast throughout. Aroma of dried orange peel as well as orange juice (going stale a bit), Cantaloupe melon, lychee even, bread crust, sweet cherry tomatoes, baker’s yeast, moist white pepper, dried field flowers, cloves, straw, honey, ripe peach, rusk. Fruity onset, quite lively, sweetish with hints of melon, lychee, peach and light banana, medium carbonation, rounded mouthfeel; nice bready and rusk- to cracker-like maltiness, some spicy phenols (clove) and, above all, a long, firm, rooty but elegant hop bitterness providing retronasal effects of grapefruit and orange zest with again that slight touch of lychee. That old ‘Belgian’ spicy yeastiness gets in the way a bit of this display of homegrown Cascade, but the hops do get a lot of space here, easily piercing through till the end, when a pleasant breadiness lingers on; alcohol adds a very slight warmth but otherwise remains perfectly in place. Typical Belgian style IPA, see e.g. De Plukker’s All Inclusive for comparison – even if this particular one is not labelled IPA, strangely perhaps. Too bad for that heavy gushing so be warned, but otherwise this is a very enjoyable Belgian hoppy blonde in my opinion.

13/XII/21 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 3/IX/23 (2021-1551)

Pretty clear reddish brown beer, big creamy beige head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: caramel malts, gentle roast, milk chocolate, cow fodder, grains. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: gentle roast, milk chocolate, caramel, rather sweet turning bitter quickly, nice hoppiness. Aftertaste: fruity notes, good bitterness, hoppy, dark bitter chocolate, cocoa powder.

An appreciated purchase from Belgian Happiness, I figured it had been widely distributed previously. 33 cl bottle, moderately cooled off, my first quad in too long of a time. A light copper-amber in color with a slim-but-healthy skim of parchment foam. The nose is decent, red plums, red licorice and and malt. Where is this going to go? The drink is nice, nice without being great. Dates, dark plums, a maltiness, yeast, grain, a curious vinous effect and a bit of astringency at the end. I have to say the brew is mostly good, a distance from the best.

Very lively and highly carbonated but luckily no gusher. Black with intense and thick head. Aroma has plenty of roasted malts also the fruitiness of chilli. Starts prickly. Like needles in the tongue. Later dark chocolate, roasted malts and fruity chilli.