Can @Beershoppe (Rome). Nera, abbastanza profonda, schiuma beige. Al naso note di caffè e cioccolato fondente, non molto intensa. In bocca è abbastanza ben equilibrata, con chiusura amara media. Corpo medio, carbonazione medio-leggera. Ok.

Irish IPA making use of two very classic New World hops that helped shape the craft beer movement, along with a third, much younger one called Strata, a dual-purpose hop developed in Oregon in 2009 but only released on the market in 2018. Thanks to Craftmember for sharing. Egg-white, moussy, opening but otherwise retaining head on a misty pale orangey-golden beer. Aroma of sugared pineapple cubes, honey even, passionfruit lemonade, sugar loaf, orange peel and Orangina. Fruity onset, unsurprisingly sweet based on the nose but nowhere sticky, again pineapple, pear and a whiff of guava, minerally carbonation, supple oily body; honeyish sweetness lingering over a slender pale malt core, bit cereally, ending quite aromatically with the aforementioned tropical fruits rising up again, yet now brightened with a refreshing citrusy edge and providing some peppery bitterness in the tail. Sleek, accessible ‘compromise’ IPA of a non-outspoken subtype, the kind of IPAs you see popping up everywhere in (not just) Europe these days, like an international standard for a beer genre many European consumers had never even heard of ten years ago. Times have changed – dramatically.

Foreign stout from the country, even the city – though decidedly not the brewery – that invented it around 1800; it is nice to see that the countless Irish craft breweries that have emerged in recent years spend so much attention to their own beer heritage, producing dry and other stouts as well as Irish red ales by the gallon, often of very decent quality. Thanks to Craftmember for sharing this one. Thick and moussy, pale greyish beige, slowly breaking but generally stable head lacing in shreds over a black beer with burgundy edges. Aroma of cold black coffee, wet leather, roasted walnuts, charcoal even, salmiak, unsugared bitter chocolate, dried wormwood, black olives. Dry and slightly umami-tinged onset (porcini) with a vague touch of prune-like sweetness, softish carb, full and oily body; caramelly maltiness without the sweetness of it, dry from the start, with a nutty and leathery edge, quickly turning quite roasted bitter in a full-fledged, black coffee-like way, a bitterness further accentuated by a peppery hop dosage in the end. Dry and powdery mouthfeel, bit chewy even – a very dry, very Irish stout indeed, at the right strength for a foreign or export stout; granted, most historical foreign stouts and export stouts still in existence tend to exhibit more sweetness than this new example, but I really enjoyed it just for being so dry and uncompromisingly roasty.

Cloudy gold with a medium head. Aroma of tropical fruits. Flavour is chalky tropical fruit. Spicy citrus base. Soft bitter hop fruity finish.

440ml can at home. Pours a deep mahogany with a medium cream head. Curious color and aroma here. Aroma of fruity hops, some biscuit notes, slightly vegetable too. Flavour is smooth malt and slight orange. Smooth malty finish

Can from Beercloud. Cloudy brown with a thin head. Aroma of fruit and malt. Flavour is fruit caramel malt, light bitter orange syrup finish.

44 cl. can shared with Hilde @ home, bought @ Kulenborgse Bierhandel. Hazy dark yellow with a white head. Tropical fruit aroma. Sweet taste with a short sweet finish. Decent.

Can from beerclub. Clear gold with a medium head. Aroma of mango hop. Flavour is fruity hop, mango and tropical, sweet syrup finish.