Dubbel-inspired dark ale by this new brewery in Brasschaat near Antwerp, designed by two young guys to produce beers for the “value seeker”. This beer makes use of koji, which is basically moldy rice (or in this case: malt) infested by the Aspergillus fungus which has been used in Japan for centuries to make sake, among other things. Weird – and this Japanese theme seems to be on the rise in Belgian craft brewing lately, let us see what may come out of that in the future… Large-bubbled, egg-white, moussy head quickly dissolving into as good as nothing; dark mahogany brown robe with hazy wine red glow. Aroma of toffee, cookie dough, fried and sugared apple slices, porcini, vanilla-flavoured custard, rice pudding, indeed a vague rubbery sake note, cassis, dried blackberries, stewed plum, almond. Estery in the mouth, ripe pear, blackberry jam and candied cherry impressions, fizzy carb but in a refined way, light sourish edge round an essentially sweet onset; caramelly, brown-bready maltiness with a slight biscuity core, continuously yet gently dried by an ongoing sourish edge most likely coming from the koji. A tea-ish, herbal hop note appears in the end, adding soft bitterness to a mainly dark fruit sour-and-sweet flavour combo, with, all the way at the back, some old bread and slightly ‘dirty’ baker’s yeast associations. Could do with a somewhat cleaner profile, I think, but the Aspergillus does add something very distinct, which unexpectedly matches well into the whole (porcini-like aroma, sourish side flavour), accentuating the fruitiness. Quite an ‘autumny’ beer, a bit odd, but tasty and frankly better than I was expecting.

Whipped eggwhite-like, medium head over hazy orange-ochre beer. Sharpish nose, not unlike whisky, solvent, but also something floral. As booze with peach extract. Again sharp, solvent, wet straw, plywood. Dried peaches in spirit, if with faded flavour. Peach/apricot liqueur (no idea how sakura tastes). Medium to good carbonation, bit thinnish MF, as if long barrel aged. Slick, gets more alcoholic warming up. Hmm... some good things, some lesser. --- Beer merged from original tick of Haru on 05 Oct 2020 at 06:39 - Score: Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5. Original review text: Rusty orange beer with a small off-white head, fast gone. Toasted, maltsyrup, and of course, herbs. I do not know sakura flowers, but it reminds me a bit of the Mexican agave drink. Sweet, toasted, malty and the herb dominating the flavour as well. Pretty slick, oily, medium carbonation. The aftertaste displays an indistinct and indifferent bitterness. First too sweet, oily, and overspiced - as all their beers, it would seem.

Bottle. Color: Slightly hazy pale golden, frothy white head. Aroma: Floral, flowers and leaves, malty and yeasty. Taste: Sweetish, malty, yeasty as a 'nornal' sweetish Tripel, combined with floral Cherry Blossom (Sakura). Never had Cherry Blossom before but it's a bit like Rose Petals with hints of cherries. Tripel and Sakura are well balanced. Starting at bit more Tripel, finishing a bit more Sakura. So far so good, but it doesn't work out very well for me. It's a bit like drinking a beer-parfume or beer-soap mix in my opinion. (Although I never had that before either). Over moderate to medium sweet, light bitterness. Over medium body, just under average carbonatiion. Maybe this beer works better for Japanese than for Europeans? I throughly respect the brewers, well done, but as said before it's just not my kind of beer.

Zythos 2022. Pinkish colour. Aroma and flavour have light almond notes. They seem to grow more and more into Tonka. Not for me.

Zythos 2022. Clear blond colour with thin head. Aroma and flavour have a prominent lychee note. Thinnish. A bit soapy tasting. More like a soft drink.

33cl can. A clear dark golden beer with a white head. Aroma of tart yellow fruits, some exotic fruits. Taste of sourish tropical fruits, mango, roots, grapes.

Säuerlicher Beginn. Der Geschmack der rohen Kakaofrucht ist mir unbekannt, im Bier kann ich nicht viel fruchtiges erkennen. Spritzig, weich, eher kurzer aber harmonischer Abgang. Nett. 9/9/9/9/12/9

Mildly sour, with cocoa-fruit puree. Mildly floral/fruity, mild sourness refreshes the beer. Great as a pairing-beer, we had it with cheese (Smoked blue cheese) at which it enhanced the smoke. I didn't take enough notes on the beer though, so might need to re-try to make better notes here.

Pours unclear yellow. Scent is mild, citric, fresh. Taste is full, fairly thick, umami. Salty. Noticable alcohol, but nowhere near what it is ( the brewer told me 16, but their site sais 14 ABV. à bright, citric, so strange and unique ! Mildly floral.