Can from Geers.
A: clear pale golden, thin, white head.
A: pineapple, lime, starfruit, kiwi, ayran.
T: sour pineapple, lime, starfruit, sourdough.
F: tart pineapple (indeed somewhat grilled), lime, vague mint (by association?) & herbal hops.
P: light to medium body, slick texture, average carbonation.
Well-made and refreshing.

Fluffy white head over veiled ochre-golden beer. Citrus is unmistakable; other grains also obvious, muesli. Faint cake bottom flavour, citruspeel. Blood orange is certainly believable; preserved citruspeel as well. Good carbonation, at least medium bodied and quite slick. Nice, but nothing stellar.

24/XII/24 - 33cl can from the brewery, shared @ home, BB: 4/VII/25 (2024-1303)

Clear blond to light orange beer, big creamy irregular off-white head, a little stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: nice, malty backbone, a bit yeasty, some banana, sweet impression, a hint of bubble gum. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: malty start, grains, soft bitterness, a bit grassy, some banana, nice, herbal touch, some bubble gum. Aftertaste: sweet malts, grains, some caramel, ripe banana, herbal, hoppy finish.

6/XII/24 - 33cl can from the brewery, shared @ home, BB: 30/IX/25 (2024-1250)

Clear amber to dark orange beer, creamy yellowish beige head, irregular, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: spicy, malty, fleshy pumpkin, some caramel, more spicy, cloves, nutmeg, ripe banana, a gentle roast. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice, sweet malty start, some roasted pumpkin, caramel, banana, spicy. Aftertaste: cloves, banana, pretty bitter, some pumpkin skin, a bit vegatal impression, a little malty, nice one, but I would love to try an imperial version of this!

One of Stroom's more recent beers, an attempt to revive the classic Wiener, as invented by Anton Dreher in 1840; given the accompanying description on their website, Stroom seems to know what this old style is about, so hopes are quite high. Seems to be named after Shostakovich' famous second waltz from his second Jazz Suite - an imitation of the Austrian waltz style rather than being one, which may give a clue as to this beer's intentions... Can from the new Jumbo supermarket in Ghent. Medium thick, initially fizzing, breaking but edge-retaining, off-white, lightly lacing head on a clear warm pale orange blonde robe with deeper tangerine glow and fine strings of sparkling, lightly misty and more amberish-tinged with sediment. Aroma of warm biscuit, a hint of orange zest, bath foam (oddly - almost lavender-like), white hand soap even, baked banana, apricot, wet white paper, green pear, scones, violets. Sweetish onset, a tad fruity with vague notes of red apple, apricot and dried banana, with a very thinly sourish undertone, fizzily carbonated - on the brink of becoming too 'stingy', and adding a lot of distracting minerality; smooth mouthfeel, slenderly biscuity and bread-crusty, faintly sweetish with an equally faint bitterish toasty edge, with that minerality continuing. In the finish, a floral hoppiness is added, providing an aptly mild bitterness supporting the toasty aspect - but everything remains very soft and smooth. Gently drying in the end, with retronasal aspects of violets, blossoming lavender and sweetclover - fortunately not nowhere as soapy as the nose would suggest. Maltiness keeps prevailing, in a slightly caramelly, yet nowhere overly sweet way, in the end feeling quite clean, as a Central European style Lager befits. Some fruity esters very subtly linger orthonasally too - perhaps just a bit more so than would be the case in a 'true' Wiener, but this is of course brewed in a very small brewery (one I have seen myself on several occasions) and it should also be mentioned that Wiener is anything but a common Lager style in its country of origin - due to some weird twist of history, it is more common in Mexico than in Austria - so a frame of reference for this specific style is only very tediously built. Generally speaking, a pleasant and easy drinking, malty Lager, almost at the same level of credibility achieved by local competitor Dok. One I may revisit when I encounter it again in this wonderful city of Ghent. And I guess I will have Shostakovich' second waltz playing in my head for quite a while now.

Tripel in the classic Belgian sense launched last summer by Stroom a brewery not specialized in classic Belgian beer styles – yet operating fully in Ghent, and with this one they apparently wanted to highlight a prominent character in Ghent’s cultural heritage, the ‘fin de siècle’ poet and writer Virginie Loveling (probably the better known of the two Loveling sisters, as her sibling Rosalie was a proliferous author as well). She is buried in Ghent’s largest cemetery and has both a street (in the university quarter) and a government building (next to Sint-Pieters train station) named after her. Can from the new Jumbo supermarket in northern Ghent. Moussey, egg-white, frothy, even-bubbled, stable head over a misty orangey-peach blonde robe with ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of dried orange peel, raw sweet potatoes, clear DMS (overcooked white cabbage), coriander seed, unripe peach, some old ‘graanjenever’, apple peel, cooked carrots, clove, nutmeg, cold pasta. Fruity onset yet clean and low in esters (oddly for a tripel), some oxidized red apple, peach; moderate carb (on the low side for style) with smooth, somewhat fluffy mouthfeel. Bread-pulpy maltiness with a very light caramelly edge, flavoured with a pinch of dried orange peel and much more coriander adding a soapy note; for a moment things brighten up a bit, but then dusk falls, with the flavours descending into a honeyish sweet, somewhat warming ‘gin-like’, softly spicy and underhopped finish (save from a floral note). The DMS unfortunately returns retronasally as well. Sweet, overly clean and straightforward, probably deliberately so, but if you do not love the style, then perhaps it is not such a good idea to bother making it anyway – the coriander even turns this Loveling into a bit of a caricature of the style. Reminds me a bit of what Dok does when they feel commercially obliged to brew yet another tripel for the masses – only with more coriander… Not too impressed here, sorry guys!

Can from Geers. Hazy blond colour, white foam. Dirty nose of soap, dishwashing water, honey. Taste is unbalanced, sweet, soapy with some herbal notes. I like a lot of beers from Stroom, but this attempt of a classic Belgian style isn't very good.