33cl bottle from Prik & Tik Dranken Marlou. F: medium, pink white, average retention. C: reddish, hazy. A: malty, light red berries, fruity, bit hay, yeasty. T: medium malty base, clear saison as a base beer, hay, bit red berries, black berries, mulberries, spicy, decent bitterness, higher carbonation, refreshing, enjoyed.

I heard many good things about this HopHemel project in Limburg, creating one craft beer after another, but all as one-offs, and all named after Catholic saints. Finally I got my hands on one, a brut IPA for that matter, a rarity in Belgium (and abroad - it seems this hype is already past its peak by now). Thick and foamy, audibly crackling, cobweb-lacing, large-bubbled but nonetheless dense and stable, beaten egg-white head over an initially clear, warm 'metallic' orange golden beer with lively sparkling, turning misty and deeper orange with sediment. Aroma of melon (in a volatile way and not lasting long enough), some faint lychee even, bread crust, old crackers, cava, dust, Conference pear, unripe mandarin or green mandarin peel, roses, minerals and that bitter medicine-like touch typical for brut IPAs. Spritzy onset, lots of minerally carbonation but not overly stingy, some green pear and unripe melon aspects but restrained in both sweetness and fruitiness, smooth oily body with indeed that typical 'brut' dryness to it; cracker- and rusk-like maltiness, remaining dry, the dryness accentuated by long, bit tropical and zesty hoppiness, adding a late but 'deep' and rooty bitterness as well as retronasal aromas of kiwi, melon and lychee, but all remaining quite subtle. A warming glow is noticeable in the end, with even some slightly astringent, gin-like alcohol coming to the foreground; the finish, as the rest of the beer, remains utterly dry. Some 'bitter pill' wryness vaguely lurks in the background after swallowing, an effect I associate with brut IPA more than any other style. A bone dry IPA indeed, not sure if the glucoamylase enzyme was added as the style normally prescribes, but it sure feels like it and in any case the HopHemel crew managed to evoke a very 'brut' effect, confirming their claim that this Theosodia probably functions very well as an apéritif beer. Qualifies as a true brut IPA for me, the Nelson Sauvin could perhaps have been a tad more expressive but this bottle is almost ten months old after all so this may have been the case when it was young; not a bad effort at all, and the fact that they even think of tackling something as new and foreign as brut IPA is a red flag for me - I definitely need to find more HopHemel beers in order to form an opinion of their work as a whole. This one is surely motivating, even for a style that does not normally make me tick. Oh yes: there is a foodpairing suggestion attached to each beer, and given the originality and creativity of the recipe in this case (and I assume other cases), I bet it is a recipe from Gebrande Winning, the now legendary and highly innovative and audacious beer restaurant nearby, with which HopHemel closely collaborates...

Pours black, medium-large sized , creamy, tanned-to-mocha , rising head. Scent is roasty. Some earthy / herbal touch by the peppers, but not much of the coconut. Ginger provides a sharp edge, comparable with the pepper. Taste is full, roasty, intense on the herbal side of the pepper, but not overly spicy. Very roasty, even a tad ashy. Very Belgian typical imperial stout. Rather bitter. medium fullbodied. High carbo. Decent. Coconut provides a mild, 'sweet' touch but remains fairly low. Ginger works as a sharp edge which - to me - more intensifies the lesser qualities, rather than to create a better end result.

Sampled as part of the Gebrande Winning newyear set. Pours a hazed (yeasty) blonde. Medium sized, lower stability white head. Scent is BE yeast, some citrussy hops, but not as summery as you'd think of . Yeast overtakes the aroma, which is - in my opinion - a bit sad in an IPA. Than again, this IS a Belgian IPA , so... Very spiced scent, to the point you'd think they added coriander or something like that, but the label doesnt mention spices. Taste is Fairly bitter - even for the style - at start, but it mellows out to become more malty, and very yeasty, towards the end. High (too high) carbonation, medium thin body . Free from major flaws, for sure, but could be improved recipe wise, as well as carbonation level.