Bottle at Chriso’s Kook Tasting 09. Black, lasting tan head. Belgian choc flavour. Lasting intense choc. Settles down into a bit of a bland choc porter, but drinkable enough.

Bottle. Murky copper, tight beige head that fades quite a bit. Savoury malt and hop aroma. Hop aroma is predominantly grass and citrus, but there are pine, flowers and herbal touches too. Medium to full body. Fruity sweetness with big but subtle bitterness. Perhaps the finish could linger longer.

[11/09] Bottle. Pretty cloudy pour with visible sediment. Orange, large off-white head that fades. Grassy hops and cantaloupe nose with some dusty sweetshop aromas. Big late-hopping attack, followed by fruits. Not quite enough malt for balance and slightly bubbly mouthfeel. Could use a little more bitterness at the end, too. But nice stuff - it seems like an expression of the style rather than something that’s been tinkered about with to get a result. [3.3] [12/11] Growler. Nice aromatic hops, but less to back it up. Mango, guava, oranges, again dusty, again could use a little more bitterness. Refreshing. [12/15] Bottle, from their Advent calendar. Melon, mandarins, mango, spices. Not sure there’s any more bitterness than before but it’s cleaner and maybe a little drier at the end - which kind of comes to the same thing. [3.5]

Hazy gold pour with a long-lasting head.Aroma is very malty with toffee, honey and resinous and peachy hops. Very appetising!The flavours are less impressive, there’s some nice toffee notes but the hop character is unpleasant and slightly metallic.A little thin, especially seeing how malty this is.

Pours ruby/copper with a decent white head that then proceeded to grow into a towering mound well above the rim of the glass, and left lots of lacing.Aroma is a mix of brown sugar, resinous hops, caramel, confectionery, white wine and bread. What an eclectic mix! Quite nice though!Many of the above aromas are mirrored in the flavours, in particular, sweet caramel, bready malt and resinous hops. Finishes with a very tame bitterness, which lets the malt dominate in an overly sweet manner.Body feels slightly watery, and I think a bit more carbonation might have helped to create a drier finish.

Pours pale gold with loads of fine bubbles sustaining (building) an impressive white head.Yeasty aroma, quite bready, but also showing lots of spicy phenols and tart orange peel.Flavours are very similar: bready yeast, lots of citrus as well as cloves. Alcohol is soft and clean, but the mild bitterness is quite sharp.High carbonation emphasises the dry finish, while the light body makes for a very refreshing beer.A great attempt at the style.

Murky amber pour, darker than I was expecting. Nice head but unfortunately it didn’t last.Wheat is apparent in aroma along with (probably noble) hops, yeast, and a bit of cloves. Not much in the way of banana. There’s some lemony character, not sure if that’s from hops or just the wheat. Hint of banana are noticeable later on if you really search for it.Flavours are similar: very wheat, some of that lemon character, and what I presume to be noble hops. Some cloves, but again, lacking in banana.Refreshing light body, but the carbonation is a bit too prickly.

Earthy red pour with a thin covering of off-white head.Aroma has lots of grassy hops, lots of sweet fruit notes. Grapefruit, peach, apples and pear. Underlying sweet toffee malt is definitely not forgotten.Nutty/toasty cereal malt is first impression upon tasting, followed by an impressive long-lasting bitterness characterised by a slight grapefruit hoppy note.Quite highly carbonated. Nice heavy mouthfeel though.Much more malt driven than several other IPA’s I’ve had, which I’m quite partial to.

Bottle. Cloudy amber brown with beige head. Surprisingly little aroma: slightly hoppy. Medium body, well carbonated. Flavour seriously dominated by hops with very bitter finish. Overall I found this an unbalanced beer, overwhelmed by hoppy bitterness. Tried this again 2013/04/03 on tap and enjoyed it much more: Ar: 8, Ap: 3, Ta: 8, Pa: 4, Ov: 15.