33cl can de et partagée avec Tderoeck @ Tim's BBQ extravaganza, merci!
BB 05/2025, lot# 2024072.
Dorée, léger voile, col blanc.
Arôme est frais et houblonné - agrumes - léger dank, pointe de raisin blanc, résine avec une note adoucie qui reste en retrait peut-être dû à l'avoine?
Palais reste assez classique d'une hazy ipa; finement fruitée sur les agrumes et le tropical, assez douce au demeurant. Rondeur apportée par l'avoine - pointe de hop burn avec une touche rappelant un peu le melon. Léger fini poivre blanc sur la fin qui reprend ce fini qui reste un peu trop doux.

Can from Geers.
A: clear golden, small, off-white head.
A: rose petals, apricot, plum, honey, orange peel.
T: sweetish apricot, perfumey rose & dandelion, honey.
F: bitter herbal hops, orange peel, perfumey rose petals & branches.
P: medium body, slick texture, average carbonation.
Doesn't really work in this 'hazy' IPA profile but not bad either.

8/V/24 - 33cl can from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: II/2025, lot# 2024066 (2024-309)

A little cloudy light blond yellow beer, big creamy smooth white head, unstable, falls down quickly, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: oh boy, all ripe banana, lots and lots of Westmalle yeasty, very malty, barnyard, rural character. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: oh boy, all banana, very strong yeast profile, nothing left of any of those aromatic hops, a shame, this is not an IPA anymore, not even a Belgian one, turned out just like any other Belgian blond, too bad. Aftertaste: bitter, very soapy, floral, more banana, a hint of citrus, very yeasty, grains, malts, hay, bleh.

Vanilla-flavoured edition of what appears to be an imperial stout also existing by itself, from a new nanobrewery operated by a husband and wife team in Baudour, a village northwest of Mons in the Belgian Hainaut province, focusing on postmodern craft beers rather than the traditional ales often seen in Belgium (and certainly Wallonia). Thick and dense, creamy, deep mocha-brownish, fluffy, consistently membrane-lacing, quite regular, slowly thinning and opening head resting on a pitch black beer with wafer thin copper-red edges. Aroma of coffee cream, burnt wood, cigar ashes, hard caramel, bitter black chocolate, roasted chicory, coffee grounds, some very vague vanilla but not nearly as much as I was hoping for and really drowning in the background, raw 'haricots verts', toast, raw kale (not in a DMS way though), dry clay, gin, molasses, unsugared chewing gum, nutmeg. Dried dark fruits in the onset, sweetish with hints of dried dates, dried apple peel and old raisins, slight umami edge (beef stock) but thinly so, softish carbonation with very full, creamy, oily, unctuous mouthfeel. Thick to even almost syrupy body - layers of black chocolate, hard caramel, roasted walnuts and burnt bread crust, sweet initially but somewhat less so than is often the case in present-day imperial stout and quickly shifting to roasted bitterness, acquiring a deeply chicory- and coffee-like character with even hints at charcoal and cigar ashes here and there. This mouth-filling roasted bitterness is supported by a bold dosage of leafy-spicy hop bitterness and, more than anything, a pronounced gin-like booziness, heating the finish in a peppery way and highlighting that roasty black coffee aspect. Hints of bayleaf, nutmeg, vague liquorice and marmite flare up, but the promised vanilla remains very faint, though it noticeably lingers retronasally after swallowing. I guess I had too many postmodern flavoured strong stouts (pastry or not) with vanilla overdoses to instantly appreciate this element being as thrifty as it is here, but I have to admit that in the end, its subtlety is charming and interesting as well. Boozy, roasty, bit ashy 'Belgian-ish' imperial stout, but not disturbed by irrelevant yeast effects and not showing any real flaws, being bold, very thick and smooth and richly layered - this beer turns out different from what I was expecting, but it is certainly worth visiting. I wonder what this Diaz project, popping up unexpectedly recently, is capable of in other genres, so this definitely is one to watch. Reminiscent of what e.g. Misery is doing elsewhere in Wallonia, to a certain extent.

8/V/24 - 33cl can from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: II/2025, lot# 2024065 (2024-308)

Slightly cloudy gold blond beer, small creamy white head, unstable, falls down quickly, non adhesive. Aroma: nice, very juicy, lots of tropical fruits, a bit malty, dusty, slightly oxidized impression. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: nice, very fruity, very juicy, lots of papaya, mango, little sweet, some oranges, tangerines, good bitterness. Aftertaste: fruity, juicy, nice, gentle bitterness, lots of oranges, orange peel, zesty, more mango, slightly sweet, some caramel malts, nice one!

9/IV/24 - 33cl can from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ Barjac (FR), BB: IX/2028, lot#2022036 (2024-222)

Clear chestnut brown to very deep dark amber beer, small aery fizzy irregular off-white head, unstable, dissipates immediately. Aroma: wow, lots of alcohol up front, cognac indeed, rum, caramel, dried fruits, raisins, a bit oxidized, a bit chemical, very floral, dried apples, calvados, yeasty, lots of phenols, lots of alcohol. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: pretty oxidized, alcohol, bitter, lots of raisins, dried fruits, soft roast, more alcohol, some acetone, a bit too much maybe. Aftertaste: very oxidized, raisins, pretty bitter, lots of alcohol, dry, woody, some tannins, a bit chemical, sugary, too much alcohol, interesting but a bit too much barrel flavours.