5.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

Flesje gedeeld door Benzai en geprobeerd met Inoven. Het is een goudgeel helder bier met weinig schuim. Het heeft een hoppig aroma. De smaak is moutig en waterig.

5.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

Flesje gedeeld door Benzai en gedronken met Tomhendriksen. Goudgeel helder bier met weinig schuim. Aroma is hoppig. Smaak is waterig. Geen nasmaak.

6

Jammer dat het niet gemaakt is op het eiland zelf. Smaakt niet overdreven naar cranberry.

4.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 2.5

Alcohol free and low alcohol beer has been a huge hit in the Low Countries since last year or so, and this one, at 0.1% ABV, is apparently Friese Bierbrouwerij's contribution. Thanks Craftmember for the bottle. Very frothy, intricately cobweb-lacing, snow white, uneven-bubbled and irregular but very stable head, cristal clear, very warm 'metallic' pale orange robe with golden hue, several columns of fierce sparkling rushing upwards in a straight line, sustaining the head. Aroma of dusty dry and sweet bird seed, iron, dried flowers, vegetable bouillon cubes, rubber, dry chicken soup powder, industrial tomato juice, wet cotton cloth, brown soap. Sweetish, very grainy onset, very neutral, lively carbonated with minerally effects, very clearly metallic on its edges ('pipe' iron), slick cereally and soapy body with a biscuity-sweetish edge but something very industrial and rubbery as well, with a certain chemical-like wryness in the finish, as well as a grassy, simple hop bitter touch mingling with the dull cereally sweetishness. Tastes like many other non-alcoholic pale lagers: very 'sweetish' cereally (unmalted grain!), very metallic and a bit rubbery, soapy and industrial. This one does display a bit more 'oomph' in its tail in the form of bitterness, but it hardly comes across as an elegant, aromatic hop bitterness, more the wry and dull kind; as usual when commenting on this type of beers, I would recommend soda or any other non-alcoholic beverage that is intended to be non-alcoholic over things like this. Not the worst in its specific kind, but definitely not something I would voluntarily drink again either.

6.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Us Heit's Pilsener interpretation, thanks to Craftmember! Mousy, snow white, tightly but irregularly lacing, quite stable head over a cristal clear, warm metallic 'old gold' beer with lively sparkling. Aroma of cold French fries and potato chips, dry breakfast cereals, some iron shavings, kitchen towel, freshly cut grass, margarine, unripe banana, baking soda. Spritzy onset, refreshing and lively, very minerally carbonation, sweetish graininess underneath with a very subtle touch of green apple, slick cereally malt body with soft white-bread-ish edges but also something clearly metallic (iron), tad bread crumb-like in the end with a decent, floral and bit grassy hop bitterish tail, lasting medium long and well in balance with the malt profile. Very decent 'pilsje', though with a metallic and cotton-like aspect to it; well-hopped, though, and 'pure' in its malt bill so this passes for me and is certainly preferable over the macro pale lagers the Netherlands produce in mass quantities (Heineken, Bavaria and the like).

7.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

33 cl. bottle @ home, bought @ Wijn&Verwonderen, Culemborg. Clear dark brownw ith a very thin off-white head. Cognac aroma with some whisky notes. Sweet taste with some oak notes as well. Sweet cognac almost a Beerenburg finish. Strange but really satisfying at the same time.

6

Malty and sweet pilsner. Not distinguishable from most others, but not bad. Plenty of flavour, even some bitterness. Easy drinking, especially with pizza.

6.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Us Heit’s contribution to the yearly Dutch Bock season, thanks Craftmember for the bottle. Dense and foamy, yellowish egg-white, creamy, papery lacing, stable head over an initially clear, warm caramel brown beer with coppery hue and quite lively sparkling, turning (only lightly) hazy with sediment added. Aroma of mostly toffee, cookie dough, hints of banana, dried dates, sugared tea, clove, hazelnut paste, vague black peppercorn touch, minerals, damp earthy, straw, some faint iron. Sweetish onset with sourish edge, dried plum, banana and fig, lively carb, very minerally side flavours but not really ‘stinging’ so these possibly come from the ‘Frisian’ brew water itself; lean, toffeeish and caramelly malt sweet middle with a light toasty bitterish accent working together with a herbal hop bitterish touch and a bit nutmeg- and clove-like phenolic impression, creating a bit of dryness and spiciness in the finish, though it is the toffeeish malt sweet character that remains dominant, together with those minerally side flavours. Easily drinkable, correct and pleasant, old-fashioned and thoroughly Dutch ‘herfstbok’.

6.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Wood-aged Christmas ale by this pioneer of the Dutch beer revival, located in traditionally not very beery Friesland all the way up north. Thanks to Craftmember. Thick and frothy, closed, pale yellowish beige, membranous-lacing head over an initially clear, warm mahogany brown robe with copper red hue and lively sparkling, hazy and deeper brown with sediment. Aroma dominated by clear added spicing, cough syrup-like, reminiscent of eucalyptus, cloves and lavender, next to hints of caramel, diluted coffee grounds, dried banana, fig, whisky (even a tad solventy), rosewood. Sweet onset but nothing annoyingly cloying, fig and raisin hints, some residual brown sugariness merging with a slick, rounded caramelly malt body, softish in carbonation, with a thin toasty bitterish edge towards the end but only mildly so; woody notes in the finish but quite subtly so, with that cough syrup-like, ethereal, perfumey spiciness strongly rising up retronasally and pushing aside more subtle aromatic qualities – and, on top of that, adding an extra astringency that only magnifies the already quite astringent, whisky-like booziness of the alcohol. Enjoyable but still below my expectations, I’m afraid: a bit too ‘hot’ and unrefined in the booze, too subtle in the wood aging and, most importantly, the spicing is too much for me, I had my fair share of overspiced Belgian style Christmas beers I guess... Then again, this beer does show that Us Heit clearly belongs to that first generation of revivalist Dutch brewers, who based themselves upon Belgian traditions rather than American craft beer. That came later (with De Molen) but apparently Us Heit, rather unlike several others including 't IJ, forgot to evolve along with that new elan and got a bit stuck in the 20th century, it seems...