7.5

marlou beerfestival

7

marlou beerfestival

6.8

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

New beer from a new micro brewery in the province of Liège, not far from the Voerstreek. Brewed with three grains (barley malt, wheat malt and oats) and hopped with Cascade, Columbus and Centennial. Light gusher, but manageable. Creamy, very regular and stable, lightly lacing, snow white head over a hazy ochre-ish tinged straw blonde beer. Quite vivid and perfumey aroma of fresh kumquat, orange zest, sweet tropical orchids, overripe banana, banana-flavoured chewing gum even, green plums, quite a lot of pineapple, sourdough, white bread crumbs, stewed rhubarb, soap, freshly cut woodsorrel leaves, unripe green melon, melting powder sugar, mashed turnips, peppermint leaves, horseradish, cloves, camomile, vague pine cones somewhere (the Centennial, no doubt, but very subtle). Crisp, spritzy onset, overcarbonated and 'stinging' as expected, distracting from the sweetish banana, pineapple and apricot notes, the banana ester even behaving a tad bubblegummy, with a sourish gooseberry-like accent on the sides; bready barley, a bit doughy even, connects with soapy wheat in the middle, and the oats are felt as a mild grainy flavour as well as a bit of 'velvetiness' in the mouthfeel - which is then a bit ruined by the overcarbonation. Fruity (especially banana) esteriness continues, some honeyish residual sugariness too, a dash of 'Belgian phenols' is thrown in for good measure, before the hops do their thing: mildly grapefruity, floral bitterness, with a sugared lemon flesh- and kumquat-like aromatic quality to it retronasally. Bitterness however remains limited and for me, the IBU level could easily have been pushed upwards. A resiny, grapefruity layer of flavourful hoppiness sticks to the back of the mouth, nonetheless, but the banana ester, malty and residual sugary sweetness persist. As for the American hop character which is boasted on the label: not impressed, but that's probably just me having had too many new IPAs meanwhile; I hardly get any Centennial or Columbus, and whatever sweet citrus-like qualities the Cascade provides, are a bit drowned in the Belgian yeastiness, especially the banana ester. In all: technically decent, relatively 'clean' for a Wallonian beer and elegant in character, with the Cascade still adding a modern flair to what is otherwise a very classically conceived Belgian ale. Passes, but not sure if I should go through the trouble of seeking out more of these Monalixa beers. We'll see, I must admit I have encountered way less promising beers from new Belgian micro breweries throughout the years.